Legacy of Travas

by MetalFox2013

Travas Starfox, the older brother of future Solarfox/Extinctioners members Scarlet and Erica, has been given a second chance thanks to Nosgoth's Legendary vampire, Janos Audron. His new life, however, hasn't been easy on him, ranging from enemy encounters to visions of the future. Will he be able to live his new life and create a new legacy, or will the dangers get the best of him?

34. Curse of the Kitsune

Legacy of Travas

Chapter 34: Curse of the Kitsune

The tournament was over, and Aerocrothe was no longer in the realm of the living thanks to Travas. But despite the vulpin winning the tournament and killing the champion, he now suffers various amount of pain throughout his body. His heart was aching badly as it continues pounding powerfully, almost as if he were about to have a heart attack. On a similar note, his body was burning up and continues to sweat despite him feeling chills throughout his body. Yet within a matter of moments, a bright light suddenly flares as Vorador and Misty arrive to the spot where Travas lies, causing the veteran vampire to run and kneel to his ally's side.

"Travas, we're here now! Just hang in there!" Vorador exclaimed as Travas continues screaming out in agonizing pain. But when the veteran vampire wraps the vulpin's left arm around his shoulder, his eyes widen in shock at the temperature of his body. "My god…" he thought as he suddenly turns to face Misty, who was wrapping Travas' right arm around her shoulder. "Was his body heat supposed to be this bad when Aerocrothe attacked him?"

"No…" Misty answered while shaking her head. "It's not supposed to be this bad… I didn't even expect his body temperature to get this hot within a short amount of time".

"Then we must return to the Citadel at once! I have a feeling that we're going to need a lot more time than we anticipated in order to save him", Vorador suggested as Misty nods and begins preparations for the trip back. And as she summons the bright white colored aura, she begins to shake her head and close her eyes.

"Aerocrothe… why did you have to take it this far…? Why him…?" Misty wondered within her mind before finalizing the transportation technique. Within a mere moment, the aura once again flickers like a flame, leaving nothing behind but the ruins of a tower that once belonged to the champion himself. And before they knew it, they return to the Main Chambers of the Citadel, where Janos and the others were waiting. When they arrived, Janos quickly runs towards Travas and grabs a hold of his ankles, placing the forelegs onto his shoulders. But as he did, he realizes how bad Travas' body heat was and turns to face the duo behind him.

"This doesn't look good… we may have to put in more effort in saving Travas if we are to save him", Janos thought as Travas continues to scream in agonizing pain, though with somewhat lower volume than before. "Vorador, Misty! We must take Travas to his room and begin treating him before he dies", he ordered as the trio start running hastily towards Travas' room. But as they do, the vulpin's agonizing screams of pain suddenly grow louder as he clutches onto his chest, coincidentally where his heart lies.

At the moment the trio enters the vulpin's room, they set Travas onto his bed and Raziel enters with a bucket of water and a small wooden TV dinner table. He immediately sets the table to the right side of the bed and places the bucket of water on it. While Janos and Vorador start casting a healing spell, the blue skinned demon twists the wet rag a bit and gets some of the water off of it. Then he places the cold rag onto the vulpin's forehead and walks towards the two vampires, joining them as they continue using their healing magic on the vulpin.

Although the trio manages to put in a good amount of effort into trying to heal their ally, the vulpin's agonizing screams continue to grow louder with each painful, but powerful heartbeat. Janos begins to look at his friend's condition with suspicion while he and the others continue to do the best they can to help Travas. But within a minute of trying to help Travas, Misty begins to approach Janos and kneels next to him, thus grabbing the attention of the ancient vampire himself.

"Janos, I need to have a word with you outside", Misty said calmly before Janos looks at her curiously.

"What about…?" Janos asked curiously. But instead of getting an immediate answer, Misty shuts her eyes and gently shakes her head.

"It's complicated… but I need you to trust me", Misty replied before opening her eyes. "Let's talk outside", she said before standing up and walking towards the Balcony outside. Janos then turns to face Vorador and Raziel, who continue to use their magic to try and relieve Travas of whatever was bothering him.

"Vorador, Raziel, can you both take over for a moment?" Janos asked as he stands up, causing Vorador and Raziel to look back at him calmly, but slightly curiously.

"Of course", both Raziel and Vorador answer before the winged vampire turns to the bedroom Balcony and starts walking towards it. Once he enters the Balcony outside, the vampire turns to face the female kitsune. "What is it that you wish to tell me?"

"It's about Travas…" Misty started before taking a deep breath. "I'm not entirely sure about what Aerocrothe had done to Travas before he died… but I can tell you he performed the same trick on him like he did towards many of the others before".

"Wait; hold your tongue for a moment…" Janos started. "Are you telling me that Aerocrothe has done this before?"

"Yes", Misty answered while nodding. "But this is no ordinary trick, but the Curse of the Kitsune. And usually within the first twenty-four to seventy-two hours… most victims of the curse die from a deadly fever and overly powerful heart beating", she explained, causing the vampire's eyes to widen in surprise.

"And what would happen if he survived…?" Janos asked before Misty closes her eyes and turns her head away from.

"It's highly unlikely for anyone to survive", Misty claimed with a heavy heart. However, she tries to remain calm as best she could. "But even if he does manage to survive… he'll never be the same again", Misty replied just before opening her eyes and turning her head to face him once more.

"What do you mean…?" Janos asked again, starting to worry about what was going to become of his friend and ally.

"Perhaps it is best if you witnessed this for yourself", Misty answered before turning to face the bedroom entrance. "C'mon, we have to continue trying to save Travas before it's too late", she suggested before walking towards the glass door and entering the vulpin's room once again. Although Janos wanted to find out what she meant by her words, he gives out a calm sigh and re-enters his ally's room as well.

As the day slowly progresses towards sundown, the trio continue to do whatever they could to help their friend. But despite all of the efforts they made, Travas still continues to scream out in agonizing pain while tightening his grip onto his chest. While his agonizing cries grow louder, Misty shuts her eyes and covers her muzzle, shaking her head in disbelief on what happened to the vulpin. In fact, she could no longer bear his agonizing cries of pain and steps out of the room and into the hallway. But within a matter of moments, however, the young vixen kit walks towards the female kitsune with saddened eyes, causing Misty to shift her eyes towards the toddler below.

"Ma'am, is my Daddy going to be okay?" Serenity asked with a saddened tone, obviously showing how much she could barely contain her sadness and concern. And in response to her saddening tone, Misty kneels down and pulls Serenity into a hug.

"I don't know, sweetie… but we're doing everything we can to help your father", Misty answered while holding onto the saddened vixen toddler in her arms. In response, Serenity turns her face towards her left and gently places it onto the kitsune's right shoulder. And within moments, the toddler begins crying almost heavily while hearing her father's agonizing, painful cries.

"Please save my Daddy", Serenity pleaded as she continues to cry on the female kitsune's right shoulder.

Despite what the kitsune's doubts were, Misty continues to do however much comfort to the vixen child as she could. But when Travas lets out a louder scream of pain, Serenity's tilts her head up, jumps out of the kitsune's grip, and darts straight into her father's room. In that moment, Misty knew that something had gone wrong and runs into the bedroom, where she notices Serenity holding onto her father's left hand-paw, which the vulpin had released seconds prior to his daughter entering his room.

All the kitsune could do in that moment was look at Travas' worsening condition in a state of shock. Within a few moments, she places her hand-paws onto her chest and feels her heart beating. Yet for some strange reason, it was not beating out of fear, but as if it was trying to communicate with her on some level. But after a few seconds that felt like a few minutes to her, Misty tilts her head back up and faces the vulpin, looking towards him with calm, serious, confident eyes. She starts walking towards him and kneels next to him, with newfound knowledge burning within her. It that particular moment… she knew what she had to do.

"I'm not entirely sure if this will work or not… but it looks like it's our best hope", Misty thought before raising her hand-paws over Travas' torso. And within a matter of seconds, her hand-paws begin to glow a bright blue colored aura around them, grabbing the attention of the trio as a response. In a similar manner, Misty shifts her sight towards the trio and looks at them with serious eyes. "Janos, Vorador, Raziel! I need you to focus your energy on your hands and use them to hover over Travas' body. It's the only way we could reduce the pain and save his life", the female kitsune claimed, causing the trio to look at each other with curious eyes. But despite their curiosity, they nod at her and start summoning energy onto their hands.

Once the trio manages to summon the energy and coil it around their hands, they start to hover it over Travas' body. At first, the vulpin's agonizing screams continue to grow louder and causes Travas to tighten his grip on his chest. But within a matter of a few minutes, however, his screams begin to slowly die down in correlation to his fast paced breathing. And after about a couple minutes of using their magic on his body, Travas' screams die down and falls into a deep sleep. With this, the trio, along with Misty and Serenity, give out a sigh in relief as they hear the sounds of the vulpin's calm, comfortable breathing.

"Thank god we've managed to stop his painful cries", Raziel spoke softly. "And I have to admit, if his agonizing cries went on for a little while longer, I would've done something rather drastic to stop them", he admitted just a moment before Janos removes the rag and places the palm of his hand onto Travas' forehead. And when he did, his eyes widen when he felt his body temperature being as hot as a container of boiling water.

"My god…" Janos thought in his mind before turning to face the others. "Vorador, can you go acquire the thermometer from the Medical Room and bring it here? Travas' body temperature is still rising", he asked as Vorador and the others look at him with slightly widened eyes.

"Alright, but it'll take me a bit in order to locate it. But I'll return as hastily as I can", Vorador replied before he starts walking out of the room and makes his quick journey towards the Medical Room.

But once Vorador leaves the room, Janos turns to face Travas' unconscious body and notices him sweating, seeing him slightly grit his teeth and groaning in pain. As the vulpin groans quietly in pain, Janos and the others begin to notice sweat building on his body. But thankfully within a matter of thirty seconds, Vorador re-enters the room by teleportation and hands his sire the thermometer like he asked. The green vampire also notices Travas' body sweating as if he were inside an industrial factory near the melting pot. Despite this, however, Janos places the tip of the digital thermometer into his muzzle and waits for it to calculate his temperature.

"Sire, what is the thermometer reading?" Vorador asked while waiting patiently for the thermometer to go off. But just before Janos could answer, the thermometer goes off and the winged vampire grabs it and looks what it calculated. At the moment he did, his eyes widen in shock, almost disbelief and turns to face the others behind him.

"What does it read?" Misty asked as Serenity walks towards Janos and looks up to him, seeing his shocked eyes and then shifts her sight towards the thermometer.

"It is over two hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit… and it's still rising", Janos answered with a soft, but shocked tone, causing the others' eyes to shoot wide open and gasp in shock.

"Two hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit…? Let me have a look at that", Vorador replied out of shock and curiosity before relieving his sire of the thermometer. And when he gazes at the reading on the thermometer, his eyes, too, widen out of disbelief and shock. "How is this possible? Are you sure the damn thing is working, Sire?"

"I'm positive, Vorador", Janos answered. "Travas purchased that thermometer just a couple of days ago and has not been used until this very moment", he continued before Vorador starts gazing back and forth at the thermometer.

"This isn't good…" Vorador thought before shifting his eyes towards Travas. As he did, he notices the vulpins heavy breathing and immediately turns to face the others. "Raziel, I need you to bring the bucket of water and soak the rag into it! Then I need you to place it onto his forehead to help bring the fever down some!"

"Understood", Raziel replied before running to the table behind him and grabbing the bucket of water, thus taking it towards the bed and setting it on the dresser next to it. As he grabs the rag and soaks it into the water, Vorador turns to face Janos.

"Sire, I need you to call the Broderick family along with the Seer and Doctor Vasserdale. Tell them that they need to get her as fast as they could! We need as much help as we can if we are to save Travas", Vorador requested as Janos nods and takes a couple deep breaths, grabbing the phone nearby and dialing the digits to the Broderick family first before he contacts the others.

*At the Broderick Family Residence, Meridian*

As the night continues to progress, the Broderick family begins to put their vulpin son in bed. The vulpin father, Johnny, places the covers over his son's torso as Alexia hugs him from behind. But just as the gray vulpin turns to face his pregnant wife, he hears his cellphone go off and grabs it out of his pocket, noticing that it was Janos trying to call him. With this, he presses the answer button and places the phone over his right ear.

"Hello…?" Johnny started, wanting to know what the winged vampire needed.

"Johnny, are you busy at this very hour?!" Janos asked over the phone rather urgently.

"Not really…" Johnny answered. "We just put our son to bed just a second ago. Why do you ask?"

"I need you and your family to come to the Citadel right away! Something's happened to Travas!" he yelled over the phone, causing Johnny to slightly widen his eyes and look towards the phone.

"Wait… what do you mean?" Johnny asked with a calm, worried tone, causing his wife and son to stare at him curiously. "What happened to Travas?"

"Johnny, there's no time to explain! I need you to come to the Citadel right away!" Janos replied as Johnny slightly lowers his phone turns to face his wife. "Travas' body temperature has risen to over two hundred and eighty degrees Fahrenheit!" the winged vampire yelled again over the phone, causing Johnny and Alexia to turn and face it. Then he turns back to his phone and puts it back to his ear.

"Alright, I'll be there in about half an hour tops. Just tell Travas to hang in here for me, alright. Adios", Johnny finished before hanging up and facing his wife, gently placing both hand-paws onto his wife's cheeks. "Alexia, I'm gonna go to the Citadel and try to save Travas. I'll be back soon" he continued before kissing his wife's lips.

"Alright… be careful", Alexia replied softly as Johnny gives a smirk in return.

"As always", Johnny said before winking at her briefly and turning to face his son, placing his left hand-paw onto his cheek and giving him a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back soon, son. Sleep tight, little dude".

"Alright, father… but please come back soon", Dylan replied before Johnny nods at his son and turns to face the bedroom door, sprinting out of it and grabbing the keys from the hallway.

Once he manages to grab the keys from the hallway, he immediately darts toward the front door and exits his home. He locates his Jeep parked in front of the garage door and unlocks the front door, starting the ignition and driving out of the driveway. And at the moment he drives out of the driveway, he presses onto the gas and journeys toward the Citadel, the place in which his ill friend lies.

*Back at the Citadel*

As Johnny continues driving towards the Citadel from Meridian, Janos continues to move his hands over his ally's aching body. Although Travas was still in pain, and his body temperature was still rising, his agonizing cries of pain were much lower than they once were before his friends started treating him. But within a matter of a few minutes, the Seer, along with Dr. Vasserdale, arrives by teleportation and rush towards the vulpin's semi-unconscious body.

"My god…! What the hell happened to him?" Dr. Vasserdale asked with shock upon seeing the vulpin's sweaty body and hearing his painful cries.

"Aerocrothe was the one responsible for this", Misty answered, causing the doctor and ancient demonic vampire to turn and face the female kitsune. "Before he died, he placed some sort of curse under Travas after he defeated him in the Sacred Skies Tournament".

"Of course…" the Seer replied while examining the vulpin's body closely, also noticing him clutching onto his chest, coincidentally at the same spot where his heart lies. "And some of the symptoms happen to include unusually high fever and a rapidly powerful heart rate", she claimed before Janos, Vorador, and Raziel turn to face her.

"It seems that way, yes", Vorador added. "But how do you know so much about this?"

"I have encountered something like this before…" the Seer started as the others inside pay attention to everything she's saying. "Most victims of the curse I've seen die from cardiac arrest or from the unusually high fever Travas is currently facing now. Usually after reaching two hundred eighty degrees, the victims tend to die since their bodies cannot handle the rapid heart rate and high body heat", she explained before turning to face Travas, which Janos was still hovering his hands over with his healing magic. "However, there have been some people who survived the curse…"

"How many, precisely?" Janos asked as the demonic vampire shifts her eyes towards him.

"Only a few, as I said. But how many precisely, I do not know", the Seer answered before looking back down towards Travas. "But what I do know is that whoever survives the curse will not be the same… though I do not know what the person will become. It is said that the changes in survivors vary from person to person", she explained before Travas' phone suddenly starts ringing, causing Raziel to grab a hold of it and press the answer button. Before talking on the phone, he places it over his ear and holds it carefully.

"Hello?" Raziel started.

"Raziel, Its Johnny", Johnny started over the phone. "Tell the others I'm at the Underground Chamber and heading upstairs as we speak. See ya soon".

"Understood", Raziel replied before he hangs up the phone and sets it back onto the vulpin's desk. And within a few minutes, Johnny rushes in and looks at his childhood friend with shocked eyes.

"Jesus Christ…" Johnny started out of shock. "What the hell happened?"

"This was the work of Aerocrothe after Travas defeated him in the Sacred Skies Tournament…" Misty answered as Johnny turns to face the female kitsune. "But before Aerocrothe was killed, he placed a curse under your friend and incapacitated him almost completely. As a result, he's not able to fight the curse back unless we assist him with whatever healing magic we can gather and keep him alive. "She explained. But instead of acquiring answers, the gray vulpin was suddenly piled in a greater web of mysteries.

"Aerocrothe…Sacred Skies Tournament…? What the hell's going on", Johnny asked out of confusion before shifting his sights towards his friend.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that", Misty admitted a moment before she shuts her eyes. "Anyways, the Sacred Skies Tournament is a competition in which those with gifted flight compete against each other for the championship in the tournament. My former master, Aerocrothe, became the champion of the tournament nearly a century ago along with becoming the competition's new host", she explained before reopening her eyes. "And there was another vampire who competed in the Tournament at the same time Aerocrothe did".

"And who might that be".

"It is I, Johnny", Vorador spoke up, causing the gray vulpin to turn and face him.

"Wait… you competed in the same tournament?" Johnny asked with a calm sense of shock and confusion in his tone.

"Yes", Vorador answered before shifting his sight towards his fallen ally, seeing his agonizing screams slowly returning. "However, that is a story for another time. Right now we must focus our attention on Travas if we are to save him", he suggested before summoning his healing magic and hovering his hands over the vulpin's body right as the Seer and Dr. Vasserdale arrive. In a similar manner, Johnny, the Seer, and Dr. Vasserdale join in with the trio and start using their healing magic to assist them with restoring Travas.

At first, the vulpin's agonizing cries continue on for the next couple of hours. But as those hours pass, his painful cries begin to cease and begins to look as if he were sleeping peacefully. Despite the vulpin's calm look, however, the group continues their efforts and begins to coil his body with their healing magic. But within a few minutes passing, however, the vixen toddler begins to approach Johnny and causes the gray vulpin to look towards her as he works.

"Serenity… are you alright", Johnny asked as he notices her tear-stained face.

"Johnny, I'm scared", Serenity answered with a saddened tone before she tightens her grip around her stuffed toy fox. Within a moment, the gray vulpin wraps his tail around her as Serenity wraps her small arms around his left side. "I don't wanna lose my Daddy", she continued before tears once again begin streaming down her face one after another.

"Don't worry, Serenity. I'll do everything within my power to help restore your father back to health", Johnny reassured while using his bushy tail to hug the toddler. Then he shifts his sights to his childhood friend and continues to focus his healing magic on his friend. "Hang in there, Travas, I'm not gonna let you die", he thought within his mind as he continues to hover his hand-paws over his friend's body, coiling him with healing magic that would hopefully restore Travas and soon awaken him from his state of semi-unconsciousness.

*Within some uncharted terrain*

The land was as dark as coal itself, and it appears that nothing inhabits the mysterious terrain. However, there was one circle of light located at the heart of the land, which was about fifteen feet in diameter. And there, lying down unconscious at the very heart of it was a familiar vulpin figure. Yet within a matter of moments, he begins to awaken and groan in pain, using his left hand-paw to rub his forehead while getting up slowly with the other along with his knees. Within a matter of seconds, the vulpin manages to get back up onto his feet-paws and begins surveying his surroundings.

"What… where am I?" Travas thought within his mind as he looks around the terrain he bestows upon. All he sees is nothing but the one light above and the dark terrain around him. "Hello! Is anybody there?!" he yelled as his voice begins to echo about.

While he was trying to find out if whether or not he were alone in the dimension, he continues walking about the dark land in hopes of finding any clues. However, he notices the circular light on the floor was following him in correlation to his walking. But within a few short moments, though, the vulpin begins to hear the faint sound of footsteps coming from behind. In response, Travas quickly turns around and tries to locate the source of the sound.

"Who's there", Travas yelled, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. But within a matter of moments, he begins to hear a hysterical laugh from an evil, yet familiar figure from the shadows. And within seconds, the kitsune figure, identified as an enemy Travas had killed recently, causing his eyes to widen in shock for a moment. Then he narrows his eyes at the familiar enemy in anger. "Aerocrothe…!"Travas shouted while growling in anger, seeing the kitsune champion chuckle evilly towards him.

"Well, Well, Well… how nice to see you again, Travas. Has my gift been giving you such a hard time?" Aerocrothe asked with a rather evil grin on his face.

"Aerocrothe, what the hell did you DO TO ME!" Travas shouted out of anger, causing the kitsune to laugh hysterically in response. "TELL ME!"

"I'm sorry, Travas… but that is for you to discover for yourself", Aerocrothe answered with a smirk on his face. But before Travas could begin darting towards, he begins hearing evil laughter from both behind him and his left.

"Well, well, if it isn't a familiar face from my defiled past", the first voice spoke from behind Travas, causing him to turn and face him. It was then, that he recognizes him as the first foe he had ever fought when he first arrived in Nosgoth several years earlier.

"Adrian…!" Travas growled angrily and with shocked eyes, seeing him standing just about twelve feet from his position.

"And in mine as well", another familiar voice said, causing the vulpin to turn towards his left. Thus, he recognizes the other being as that of the dimensional demon himself.

"Infernum…!" Travas shouted angrily and with shocked eyes. But within a few seconds, he hears couple other beings walking towards his right, causing him to turn and face the approaching people.

"It's been a long time, Travas", the being on the left said just before he starts chuckling with evil delight in his tone. "I've been waiting a long time for this".

"And I suppose life hasn't fared with you well ever since you've lost your beloved wife", the being on the right added before Travas suddenly recognizes their faces.

"Alastair…! NEXUS…!" Travas growled furiously before narrowing his eyes at the demons out of anger. And within moments, he gets into his battle position and starts shifting his sights towards the other demons he killed in the past. "What the hell do you guys want with me?!" he shouted demandingly before the others get into their fighting positions.

"It's simple…" Adrian started while looking at his enemy with serious, vengeful eyes.

"Revenge", Nexus added before he and the other demons suddenly teleport towards him. But the vulpin wasn't an idiot, however, for he immediately does the same with the others.

As the battle between the vulpin and the other demons commence, Travas continues shifting his focus from one attacker after another by striking them with physical attacks. To his surprise, however, he discovers at the demons he fought before were now stronger than they were when he first fought them… perhaps even stronger than him. And within a matter of seconds, Nexus manages to strike the vulpin from behind and causes him to crash onto the ground violently. After he crashes onto the ground, Travas attempts to recover by getting back onto his knees and hand-paws. But to his surprise, his efforts start proving to be worthless just before Alastair grabs him by the throat and raises him as high as the demon's arm could reach.

"How pathetic", Alastair started. "You've grown so weak; you cannot even handle a simple fever. Or even an unusually rapid heart rate", he claimed as the vulpin narrowly opens his eyes and looks towards the sea dragon out of hatred. However, he also notices that his vision was beginning to blur, causing straining on his eyes.

"You've gotta be fucking joking", Travas thought while struggling with keeping his eyes open along with trying to regain his vision. "I can't have this happening to me… not now…" he thought again before Alastair suddenly throws the ill vulpin nearly fifty feet away, causing the vulpin to plummet towards the ground face first while the circular light source follows him. Almost immediately, the demons begin walking towards the vulpin's weak body while smirking and chuckling out of evil delight.

"What do you think we should do to him now, Aerocrothe?" Infernum asked.

"It's simple, lad. We exact our slow and painful revenge against him", Aerocrothe answered before looking back down towards the vulpin with stern eyes. "Alastair, Nexus, pick him up by his arms. I have some unfinished business I need to take care of regarding this wench", he ordered as both the sea dragon and feline demons pick him up by the vulpin's arms. And once his body was raised high enough, Aerocrothe grabs a hold of Travas' chin with his left hand-paw and tilts it upward until his eyes were gazing at his. From there, he continues to stare at his eyes while beginning to smirk towards his enemy, upon which he would exact whatever kind of revenge he had in mind.

*Somewhere within the heart of Nosgoth*

About seven days have passed since the Sacred Skies Tournament was held, and another vampire with pale white skin and bright white long hair continues to roam with Nosgoth's heartland. Within a matter of minutes, he arrives to the home that was once Vorador's mansion and enters the front courtyard. But the vampire wasn't alone, however, for he discovers a familiar figure waiting near the stairs, now in a wheelchair. He was also accompanied by another person, who appears to be somewhere in his thirties, wearing a skintight jumpsuit underneath his lab coat. Because of their presence, the vampire looks at him with stern eyes, remaining cautious about his unexpected 'guests'.

"Ah yes, if it isn't one of Nosgoth's ambitious vampires… Kain is it?" the Mysterious Hooded Man greeted despite the vampire staring at him with cold eyes.

"Spare me your false greetings, old man", Kain exclaimed before pointing his left index finger. "I have been searching for you for nearly two years now! You were supposed to guard my prized weapon at the Cathedral, and now it is gone! Now tell me, where in the hell were you at the time Travas and Umah stole the Soul Reaver from Avernus?" he asked demandingly, causing the hooded figure to chuckle in response.

"Of course, I remember that arrogant tone of yours", the Mysterious Hooded Man started before clearing his throat. "But to answer your question, Kain, I had to tend to some other business else ware", he answered before Kain starts growling softly out of annoyance and lowers his finger.

"What kind of business were you tending to?" Kain asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"It doesn't matter, Kain. I have completed my task and that is all you need to know", the Mysterious Hooded Figure replied calmly. "Now tell me, what makes of that vulpin and his mate?" he asked before Kain gives out a calm sigh of annoyance.

"Very well, you old man", Kain replied calmly, but with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. "Umah, Travas' wife, was murdered by the hands of another demon named Nexus two years ago. As for Travas, I have heard he's left for some tournament in the skies above".

"The Sacred Skies Tournament", the Hooded Figure assumed.

"Yes, I believe that is the one", Kain replied. "Now tell me, how is it that you know so much about Travas, and why do you have a rather strange interest in him?" he asked before the hooded man starts chuckling and smirking in delight.

"Let's just say that he has unknowingly been a highly favorable asset to my plans, willing or not", the Mysterious Hooded Man claimed with a smirk on his face.

"Asset…? You mean like your unwitting pawn?" Kain asked before crossing his arms.

"You could say something like that", the Mysterious Hooded Man replied just as the vampire uncrosses his arms and walks towards the door.

"Very well… but I must tend to my own needs at this hour. Now be gone!" Kain said as he starts walking up the stairs. But when he reaches about halfway up, he hears the sound of the wheelchair turning about. But nonetheless, he continues walking up the stairs despite the old man's chuckling.

"Tell me, Kain… have you ever thought about having that pestilent vulpin become your puppet", the Mysterious hooded figure asked with a grin on his face, causing Kain to stop on his tracks and turn to face him.

"What do you mean, you old man?" Kain asked with a rather annoyed tone. But this time, however, he was intrigued with the idea and looks towards him.

"I have the proper means and the equipment to place him under your control… if you're willing to listen, that is", the Mysterious Hooded Man answered while smirking and slightly tilting his head upward. Though the vampire wasn't able to make out the exact color of his beard, he did notice black stripe goatee running down his chin. But nonetheless, he smirks towards the old man and walks down a few steps.

"I am…" Kain started with a grin on his face. "Now tell me… what did you have in mind?"

*Within another Terrain*

Darkness continues to overwhelm the land, with only a circular, fifteen foot in diameter light on the floor. In the circular light, Infernum continues holding onto the vulpin's shirt while throwing a series of painful punches onto Travas' now bruised and bloodied face. When the dimensional wolf demon ceases his fury, the vulpin collapses onto his knees and hand-paws before coughing up a small portion of his blood onto the lighted floor. Within a few seconds, however, Nexus and Alastair grab a hold of his arms and stand him back onto his feet-paws. Then, Aerocrothe grabs a hold of the vulpin's furred, bloodied chin and tilts his head upward, where his weary eyes gaze at the kitsune's own.

"Well now, Travas. Do you finally understand you neither have the means nor the strength defeat us in this realm? Or do we have to find other methods to convince you otherwise?" Aerocrothe asked with a smirk on his face as he looks at Travas growl at him. As the vulpin does so, the kitsune forms a golden spear within his right hand-paw and tightens his grip onto the heft of the weapon. "It seems I have to use another method to convince you otherwise", the kitsune claimed before he powerfully shoves the spear right through the vulpin's chest, just underneath the spot where his heart lies. Travas screams out in pain and spits out a heavy portion of his blood, with jolts of unbelievable pain going right through his body.

Within a few prolonged moments after Aerocrothe shoves the spear right through Travas' chest, he pulls the weapon out hastily and with powerful effort. This sends another jolt of unbelievable pain throughout the vulpin's weary body, causing him to collapse onto the floor as the others hysterically laugh at his weakened state. All he could do in that moment was try and regain his balance with his knees and hand-paws. Although he barely manages to succeed, he starts to breathe heavily as his body begins to drip in sweat.

"Damnit… I'm getting a major ass beating here", Travas thought within his mind as he continues to breathe heavily. "They've gotten too strong… my body is going through hell right now… I don't know what to do", he continues thinking just before he starts trying to get back onto his feet-paws. But the pain throughout his body was becoming too much for him and collapses back onto the floor, only to manage getting back onto his hand-paws and knees. The others, with the exception of Infernum, merely laugh upon this with their arms crossed.

"How pathetic", Infernum said with a serious look on his face.

"What a joke", Nexus spoke while chuckling in delight.

"The legendary Travas Starfox can't even get back onto his own feet-paws after taking a major ass beating", Adrian spoke with a smirk on his face.

"What's the matter, Travas? Can't take all of us on after you valiantly defeated us in the realm of the living?" Alastair darkly mocked before summoning two deadly watery blades from his hands.

"How foolish…! To think of a warrior such as yourself could defeat us with such power", Adrian said as Alastair begins raising the blades over his head. "Did you truly have such skill in you, or was it merely luck that saved you all those times?" he asked before Alastair grins at the heavily breathing vulpin on the floor.

"Your time is up, Travas! Your life has FINALLY RUN ITS COURSE!" Alastair shouted before he hurls the blades down towards the vulpin. Instead of getting the long-awaited kill he desired, Travas manages to dodge the water demon's watery swords and starts to slowly recover. Once the demon pulls the blades out of the ground, he notices Travas managing to get back onto his feet-paws despite his heavy breathing.

"I'm not… going down… without a fight…" Travas spoke hoarsely while breathing heavily and holding onto the chest wound. But when he said that, the others begin laughing mockingly towards the vulpin as he looks at them with cold, serious eyes.

"Did you hear that, lads! He thinks he's not going down without a fight", Infernum shouted mockingly as he and the other demons continue to laugh at the demons continue to laugh and make a mockery out of him. But within a moment, Infernum begins walking towards Travas while cracking his knuckles. When he finishes, however, he grabs a hold of the vulpin's neck with his left hand-paw and pulls him up, allowing him to summon a green energy blade with his right. "Any last words before you die, Travas?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"No…" Travas calmly, but hoarsely answered while looking down, with his long bangs covering the majority of his face.

"Very well…" Infernum started before pulling the energy blade back, preparing to behead the vulpin. But as he does, he notices the vulpin's ears slightly rotating around in various directions. Despite his suspicions, however, he smirks and tightens his grip onto the heft of his blade. "… then your time is up, Travas. It's time for us to fulfill OUR REVENGE!" he spoke calmly at first before shouting and swinging the blade like a baseball bat. But before the blade could come into contact with its target, Travas uses his left hand-paw to grab a hold of the blade and stops him. And when he did, he tilts his head upward and looks at the wolf demon with serious, now pupil-less eyes that burn with a fiery aura.

"What in the hell", Nexus shouted at the very moment Travas' purple-red energy explodes like wild-fire and knocks Infernum off of his. But soon, however, the vulpin's eyes soon fill with blood red pupils as he looks at them with cold eyes.

"I've had enough with all of ya'lls bullshit! I'm going to make sure you all stay dead!" Travas shouted while he begins to power up at such an intense level, shoving the others far away from the main circular light and into the darkness. But the enemies also had circular lights of their own, enabling Travas to locate each and every one of them. When he spots them, he notices that demon was located within twenty-five meters away from him in various directions. And within a few moments, they recover and go straight for the vulpin at the very heart of the light.

"It's impossible, Travas!" Adrian shouted.

"How can you kill what's already dead?" Aerocrothe asked while summoning a couple of energy spheres within his hand-paws.

"And we're always going to haunt your mind for the rest of your life!" Alastair yelled with a smirk on his face, summoning his two signature watery blades and darts towards the vulpin. But the vulpin continues to look at them with serious eyes, sending waves of confusion to the demons.

"It's odd…" Aerocrothe thought while examining the vulpin's determined look despite his injured and ill state. "He's already suffering the fever and powerfully fast heart rates… and even after he was impaled right through the chest. Then why is he still looking at us with a determined look on his face?" he wondered before growling and summoning fire within his hand-paws. "You're not going to win, Travas! You're going to die where you stand!" he shouted just before he throws two powerful fireballs at the injured vulpin. And when they hit, they explode like a case of dynamite and engulf him in smoke, causing the kitsune to smirk in delight. But when the smoke clears away, his eyes widen and smirk fades into a shocked expression as the smoke reveals Travas unharmed by the attacks.

"What in the hell…!" Nexus shouted while he and the other demons stop on their tracks and eye the vulpin with shock. And as they look at him, they notice the vulpin's injuries were beginning to heal. Within a matter of five seconds, the injuries Travas has sustained vanish as if they were never there. And in that moment, he appears as if he were about to explode.

"I've told you before! I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU ALL STAY DEAD!" Travas shouted before he powers up to the point where his eyes become pupil-less once again.

Within a mere second, the flames that covered his body suddenly explode like a super nova, engulfing the five demons and desecrating them. At first, their furred flesh is burned off down to the bone, then into dust within a fraction of a second later. And in a similar manner, the same flame that covered Travas now brightens the terrain, ridding it of the darkness and turning it into a bright white land with a gray horizon. And inside, nothing remains but the white landscape that seems to continue on for all eternity. But within moments, he begins to hear footsteps behind him and turns around quickly, seeing the woman that he once fought alongside with and bore him his daughter.

"Umah…" Travas spoke softly as he reverts back to his normal form, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her like she did to him.

"You have done well, Travas. I am proud of you", Umah replied before kissing his neck and resting on his chest. In a similar manner, the vulpin rests his head on his deceased wife's head and closes his eyes. He could merely hold her for an eternity, but he knew that he couldn't. So he opens his eyes and moves his head back, allowing him to look at her face and her silver-purple eyes.

"Umah…" Travas started before he closes his eyes and swallows back the lump in his throat in a saddened manner. Despite this, though, he manages to stop himself from shedding tears and reopens his eyes. "I wish you were with us… I need you more than ever…"

"I know, Travas…" Umah replied while placing her hands onto his cheeks and looks at him with a sympathetic look on her face. But within a moment, she gives a soft smile to him as he looks at her with curious eyes. "I may no longer be alive… but I will always be watching over you and Serenity. I promise" she said before Travas leans down a bit and kisses his deceased wife. And when he did, a bright light begins to engulf them until the entire plane was engulfed by the bright essence.

But with a soft gasp, the vulpin's eyes suddenly shoot wide open in correlation to his torso jolting upward. Then he begins surveying the area he was in with the available sunlight he had, but was enough to know that he was in his room. And telling by how bright it was, he knew for sure that it had to be sometime in the morning.

"It's only a dream…" Travas spoke softly a moment before he places his left hand-paw on his forehead. Then he turns to his left and grabs the thermometer, placing it into his muzzle for only a few seconds while having his right hand-paw over his forehead. When it beeps, he pulls it out and looks down at the temperature gauge, seeing it read about ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit. "Good", the vulpin thought before softly smiling at the thermometer. "I had a fever… but it broke", the vulpin continued thinking before he starts turning towards the dresser next to his work station.

At the moment the vulpin gets up onto his feet-paws, he notices that the lowest part of his lower back felt somewhat heavier than before. But he was rather a bit tired to even care because of the encounter he had in his mind. All he wanted was to find a gray T-shirt to put on with his black, oddly clean pair of pajama pants he's wearing. Within moments, he grabs the gray T-shirt he wanted and quickly puts it on. Then he heads out of his room and walks toward the Main Chambers, where he starts hearting the others chatting inside.

When he enters, he notices that Vorador and Janos were chatting with Johnny and his now pregnant wife, Alexia. Their son, Dylan was playing Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube through the Widescreen TV near the Balcony doors. He also notices Doyle, Aramantha, and Celestia chatting at the Balcony outside. When he turns his head to the right, he notices his daughter, Serenity, eating some eggs, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast. But within a moment, Johnny and the others turn to face Travas and smile at him as the vulpin turns back to face the others.

"Hey, Travas, you're awake now, buddy", Johnny greeted before he starts walking towards him. "How do you-" the gray vulpin continued until he stops talking when he notices something behind his friend.

"Johnny…? Are you okay", Travas asked, raising a confused brow at him just as Janos and the others turn to face him as well. Though they were happy to see him moving about, their eyes also widen in surprise, perhaps in shock when they notice something rather disturbing behind their beloved friend and ally.

"My god…" Janos spoke softly as Serenity finishes eating.

"Okay…why the hell are you guys looking at me like that?" Travas asked calmly, but with a slightly more serious tone as Serenity turns to face her father. In response, she smiles for a moment before noticing what the others were looking at. Nonetheless, she gets out of her chair and runs to her father as he smiles at her.

"Daddy", Serenity yelled as her father kneels down and gives his daughter a hug after she jumps into his arms. Then within a moment or two, he lets go of her and stands back up onto his feet-paws, now shifting his eyes towards the others and looking at them with a more calm, slightly serious expression.

"Alright… I have a couple of questions to ask", Travas started as the others still look at him in shock, with Celestia, Doyle, and Aramantha entering and noticing the vulpin awake once again. Before they could greet him, they notice what the others were looking at and gaze at the changes with shock. "One, how long was I unconscious? And two, can someone tell me what the hell you guys are looking at?" he asked with his arms raised slightly to his sides before lowering them down.

"Travas… what happened to you…?" Aramantha asked softly with shock. But the vulpin was able to catch what she said clearly, almost as if she spoke with a normal tone despite how quiet she was.

"What do you mean…?" Travas asked calmly despite him raising a confused brow at her. But before he can say anything else, however, he suddenly feels a pair of hands playing with his tail, causing him to let out a soft yelp in response.

"One, two, three, four, five", Serenity said happily as she continues counting for some odd reason, causing her father to turn towards her direction.

"Serenity, what are you-" was all Travas could say before his eyes widen in shock, seeing multiple copies of his tail. Was this a trick he accidently performed in his sleep, or was it something more significant? Because of the sight, he runs towards the nearest full-body mirror possible. And when he arrives to the one near the balcony, he looks at the image of himself with shock. In that moment, he realizes that he had not one, but nine tails in total… thus answering the question regarding why the others were looking at him oddly. "Oh my God… what happened to me?" he said softly while looking at the mirror and seeing what he's become.

"Travas…" Vorador asked in a calmly worried manner while approaching him slowly. "Just relax… and take a few deep breaths" he suggested before the vulpin-kitsune turns to face him in a panicked state.

"How can I relax?" Travas asked in a shocked manner while raising his arms to the side somewhat. "Look at me, I've become a kitsune!" he spoke a bit loudly before looking at his own body left and right while breathing heavily. Soon enough, he begins pacing back and forth within the Main Chambers, unsure of how to take in what he's become. But as he was pacing, Janos steps forward a bit and causes the vulpin-kitsune to turn and face him.

"Perhaps it might be best if you go to the Training Room and try to relieve some of the stress you're facing", Janos suggested. But whether or not Travas was sure if it would be good or not, he takes a few deep breaths and nods.

"Alright… but I can't guarantee if whether or not it'll work", Travas replied before he turns to face the stairway that leads to the Training Room. "But I'll do my best, Janos", he said before he starts walking towards the stairs. But before he gets to them, however, he feels something tugging his left pajama pant leg, causing him to look towards the person responsible for it. And when he does, he notices that it was his daughter trying to get his attention and gives a soft smile. "What is it, sweetie?" he asked while kneeling down to her.

"Daddy, can I come and watch you train?" Serenity asked softly. Although Travas admired his daughter's enthusiasm, he closes his eyes and shakes his head while retaining his soft smile.

"I'm happy to see you're enthusiastic and supportive, Serenity", Travas started before opening his eyes and placing his left hand-paw onto her head, rubbing her hair gently. "But I think it might be best if you stayed up here with the others and kept Dylan some company. I also don't know what I might be capable of doing in this form", he suggested. "Can you do that for me?" he asked, causing her to nod in response.

"Mhm", Serenity answered.

"That's my girl", Travas replied before planning a kiss on her head. Then he stands back up and faces the others. "Alright, I don't know if the training will go well or not, but I should be done sometime within the hour", he continued as the others nod towards him in response.

"Train for however long you require, Travas. It is not a problem whatsoever", Vorador said as Travas nods.

"Thanks", Travas replied before turning back to the stairs and walking down towards the Training Room.

After about a three minute walk down the stairs, the vulpin-kitsune manages to arrive at the Training Room doors and opens them. When he enters, he spots a familiar face training within, which the wolf wore a black pair of Gi pants with a loincloth attached. The wolf also wore a pair of bandage wrap style gloves and a dark red head band. And during his training, the wolf spots Travas and smiles at him, seeing the vulpin-kitsune fully recovered and healthy again.

"Keith…? I thought you would be back at the Gardens of Eden by now?" Travas asked as the war wolf ceases what he's doing and waves at him. But then he shifts his eyes towards Travas' newly set of nine tails and walks towards him.

"And I'm guessing you underwent another transformation while you were unconscious?" Keith also asked before he crosses his arms, but nonetheless continues to softly grin at the vulpin-kitsune.

"Apparently, I have…" Travas admitted while looking left and right and a moment before looking back at the war wolf in front of him. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Believe it or not, Travas, you were out cold for a month", Keith answered. "Not to mention it was a complete miracle you survived despite your fever going past two hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit." He claimed, causing the vulpin's eyes to shoot a bit wide open in shock.

"Whoa… over two hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit…" Travas thought before raising his hands up and tilting his head lower. "That's intense…" he said softly just as the wolf begins drying off his face and gathering his things, causing him to tilt his head up in response. "You heading out, Keith?"

"Yes", Keith answered before grabbing what seems to be a handmade cloth duffle bag with leather pockets on them and places his belongings in it. Then he places the strap over his shoulders and turns to face the vulpin-kitsune. "I must return to my village in the Gardens since I have to take care of some tasks", he claimed before smiling and raising his arm up, having his elbow tilted up nearly ninety degrees similar to an arm wrestling position. "It was great seeing you again, my friend…"

"Likewise, Keith", Travas replied with a smile while raising his arm in the same position and grabbing the wolf's hand-paw. And within a couple of seconds, they let go of each other's hand-paws as Keith places his own together, gathering some teleportation energy for the trip back home.

"I'll see you around, Travas. And good luck", this was all Keith said before a sudden burst of green light engulfs the wolf, causing the vulpin-kitsune to turn his torso towards the right and cover his eyes with his left arm. And when he releases moments later, nothing but the remaining gas-like energy is left behind at the same spot the war wolf once stood.

A moment after Keith leaves the Training Room and back home at the Gardens of Eden; Travas takes a deep breath and walks towards the heart of the chamber. Once he gets there, he removes his shirt and tank top before gets into push-up position, thus starts doing his usual routine. Oddly enough, he was rather relaxed after getting to about four thousand push-ups done when he usually starts sweating at that point. He continues on with the routine until he got to about ten thousand, where he barely breaks a sweat and merely takes him about half an hour to get the routine done. But despite him hardly breaking one drop of sweat, he still remains relaxed about himself.

After he finishes his push-ups, he looks towards his left and walks towards the sit-up bar. The vulpin-kitsune quickly jumps onto the top of the bar and locks his ankles onto the shackles attached. Then, he reclines his back all the way down until he was as straight as a ruler. Then after taking a deep breath, he begins performing his sit-ups rather hastily and military-like, going all the way up until his elbows touch his knees before retracting again. He continues this routine until he manages to get about seventeen thousand sit-ups done, which takes him nearly forty minutes to complete.

Once he finishes his sit-up routine, he attempts to lean upward and reach for the shackles holding onto his ankles. But when he reaches the left shackle and tries to unlock it, his hand-paws slip from the small amount of sweat he has, causing his back to fall backwards a bit painfully and lets out a painful yelp. Now he was starting to get annoyed, but nonetheless tries again with the same shackle. But again, his grip slips and falls backwards once again, causing him to let out another painful yelp. This time, however, he discovers that the palms of his hands have been severely cut right across his palms when he notices blood dripping onto the floor.

At the moment he notices his blood dripping onto the floor, he painfully clenches his fists and shuts his eyes while gritting his teeth. He also starts growling rather angrily and continues to glow louder steadily, but quickly at the same time. At that point, he honestly didn't give a flying fuck anymore. His growls grow louder quickly and the pupils in his eyes turn blood red without the energy's influence. And within a swift moment, he quickly leans forward and grabs both shackles with his hand-paws, pulling them off like tearing up paper out of a spiral journal.

After he manages to rip the shackles off of his ankles, he falls off of the sit-up bar and uses his hand-paws to recover, pushing him backwards and landing onto his feet-paws. But Travas wasn't relieved about being free at all. In fact, he darts towards one of the nearest walls and starts smashing his fists onto them, with each hit damaging the wall and creating cracks as a result. But after about a few moments, he ceases and turns around, pressing his back against the wall and dragging himself onto the floor before tilting his head down. But within moments, he begins to hear the sounds of footsteps coming from the vulpin-kitsune's left, causing him to turn and face that direction.

"Who's there?" Travas asked before turning his head left and right around his left. And within moments, he spots a familiar female kitsune enters the Training Room, only wearing a black sports bra and black pair of spandex workout booty shorts, with red stripes located on the sides. "Misty…?"

"Travas, you've managed to survive the fever…" Misty started while looking at him with calm curiosity, also noticing the nine tails he now possessed on his body. "I… can also tell you've underwent the kitsune transformation caused by my former master…" she claimed while turning her head away from him as he stands back up onto his feet-paws.

"Hold on a second, Misty… what do you mean?" Travas asked curiously, causing the female kitsune to grab a hold of her right arm.

"When Aerocrothe struck you with his lightning attack, he was able to transform you into another kitsune, just like he did with many of us", Misty answered.

"Wait a second… are you telling me he that none of you were born as kitsunes?" Travas asked.

"Most of us, yes…" Misty answered. "But the vast majority of us were turned into kitsunes because of him", she claimed.

"And now you're telling me that I'm his latest and final creation", Travas asked with a slight panicked tone before he starts pacing back and forth from one column to the damaged wall. "Great… what else are you trying to tell me? That I'm gonna turn into some fucking lunatic like him?" he asked before he suddenly smashes the same wall he struck moments earlier. "Well fuck… what's next?" he asked, but within moments, he stops and suddenly smells something odd… but that was arousing as well, thus causing his eyes to slightly widen in surprise. As he continues sniffing around, Misty turns back to face him as she notices him catching some sort of scent with his nose, which seems to apparently be coming from her.

"His kitsune senses might be kicking in… he can smell my scent", Misty thought before slightly blushing, turning her head away from him, and starts rubbing her left arm out of slight nervousness.

But within a moment, she turns her head back to face him, seeing the vulpin-kitsune approaching her with widened eyes and a blush on his face. And shortly after discovering this, Travas was standing almost right in front of her. His breathing starts to become heavy in correlation to Misty's own. However, his hand-paws start shaking slightly while his nine tails begin to wag uncontrollably, yet in an exciting manner. Despite the delightful behavior in which his tails wag, Travas continues to look at her rather calmly, but with a slight panicked gesture as well.

"Kitsune senses…? What are you talking about…?" Travas asked calmly, but with a slight panicked tone before he looks down at his sweating hand-paws. Then he looks back at the female kitsune in front of him "What's happening to me?"

"It's your kitsune senses, Travas. They're kicking in", Misty answered before tilting her head down. "But they're kicking in a lot faster than I anticipated…" she thought before she covers her muzzle with her left hand-paw, unable to comprehend how fast his kitsune senses have started to come in.

At the moment she leans back against one of the columns, she notices the vulpin-kitsune placing his hand-paws on her waist, causing her to look back up towards him and blush immensely. She notices the vulpin-kitsune blushing and breathing heavily, also seeing him stare into her eyes. But for some strange reason, Travas notices her leaning towards him and giving a light kiss on his left cheek, causing his blush to intensify that much more. Then, he strangely leans towards the female kitsune and gives her a light kiss on her muzzle. Because of the vulpin-kitsune's action's Misty begins to blush harder than she has before in correlation to her suddenly widening eyes.

Within a mere moment, the female kitsune pulls back from the kiss and looks down a bit, unknown on how to take in what just happened. Then she looks back up to him and kisses him back, wrapping her arms around his neck as Travas did the same with her waist. While they kiss almost passionately, their tails wag in delight as Misty leans against the column and slowly slides down, with Travas kneeling in a similar manner to her sliding. But within ten seconds, Misty starts lying down on her back while Travas slightly deepens the kiss. This wouldn't last long, however, for the vulpin-kitsune suddenly pulls back and closes his eyes, thus turning his head towards his right as Misty places her hand-paws onto his face.

"Travas… it's alright…" Misty said before turning his head towards her, causing him to open his eyes narrowly as his heavy breathing continues. "Let your kitsune senses guide you", she continued. But within a moment after she said that, Travas' eyes shoot wide open and looks at her with his emerald green eyes, in which they quickly turn into slits. And in that moment, Misty's pupils turn to slits and the two quickly lock into each other's muzzles for another deep, passionate kiss.

During the passionate kiss, Travas begins to run his hand-paws from the female kitsune's sides all the way down til they start rubbing her toned, feminine thighs. Misty's blush begins to intensify while moaning in response to the vulpin-kitsune's touch. Soon, the two begin French-kissing each other as Travas moves his hand-paws from Misty's thighs up to her well-endowed breasts contained within her sports bra. He begins caressing them while kissing the sides of her neck, giving out a nice kitsune-like purr as Misty gives out a soft, but slightly louder moan in response. But when his kisses turn into eager nipping, Travas quickly shuts his eyes and darts backwards away from the female kitsune, also turning his head towards his right side before raising his hand-paws.

"Stop…!" Travas said between medium paced breaths, turning to face her with his emerald green eyes, which they quickly revert back to normal. "I can't do this…" he continued while breathing softly and more slowly than moments before, with Misty pulling herself up and sitting onto the cold marble floor.

"I understand…" Misty replied softly as she crosses her arms around her legs. But despite her burying her face into her legs, the vulpin-kitsune manages to give a soft smile towards her.

"Look, you're a great woman, Misty, and I know you mean well", Travas started before closing his eyes and losing the soft smile. "But I can't be doing this… I have to take care of my daughter… and it wouldn't feel right if I was doing something like this after losing my wife two years ago", he claimed before turning his head away from her. "I'm sorry…" he apologized softly before grabbing his shirt and tank top, standing up, and facing the exit. Thus, he walks towards the doors and leaves the female kitsune behind, spacing himself between them before his drive would wind up getting out of control.

Once he was out of the Training Room, the vulpin-kitsune starts heading back to his room upstairs. When he arrives, he darts directly towards the bathroom and removes his clothes, setting them in the dirty laundry basket and enters the shower. He turns on the hot water and allows himself to be cleansed by the relaxation the shower supplied, with multiple drops of water hitting his face soothingly. But the vulpin wasn't entirely calm, however. In fact, he closes his eyes and starts thinking about the encounter he had with Misty moments ago, wondering what he would've done with her if he stayed.

Inside his thoughts, he can see the female kitsune in the nude, but from behind, with her hourglass curves attracting the vulpin's eyes like a breaking news report. He couldn't help but try and approach the female kitsune like a worker bee following his queen. When he finally gets to her, the vulpin-kitsune wraps his hands around the female's waist, looking into her eyes like something out of a romance novel. The next thing he knew, they were underneath the covers and covered in sweat, obviously engaging into something rather private and inappropriate. Their moans grew louder, and their lust grew stronger, but the thought would end with a simple knock on the door as Travas' eyes shoot open.

"Travas, we require you to come to the meeting at the Sacred Chamber", Vorador said behind the bathroom door. "Meet with us there when you get out of the shower", he said before leaving the vulpin-kitsune's bedroom. At the moment the green vampire leaves the room, Travas looks down towards the floor as his eyes grow wide, realizing that he had been pleasuring himself through the majority of the time he was in the shower.

"Shit…" Travas cursed under his breath while removing his right hand-paw from his hardened length. And telling by the amount of his pre-essence that was on his hand-paw, he was nearly close to the point of climax. He closes his eyes and begins to shake his head quickly, but for a brief moment as well. "I can't be acting like this around the others… I gotta find a way to keep this under control", he thought before grabbing his AXE detailer and orange scented body wash of the same brand, applying some of it onto the scrubber before scrubbing it all over his body. Then, with the body wash applied all over his body, Travas rinses himself off and continues to cleanse himself of his pre-essence scent, ensuring that not a single trace of it could be found by the others.

After about fifteen minutes passing, the vulpin-kitsune gets out of the shower with nothing on but a towel covering his waist in a low-rise fashion. Shortly, he begins searching his dresser drawers for a clean pair of clothes to get in. Soon, he finds a pair of gray boxer briefs and low-rise black slim-fitting Gi pants, putting them on before tucking the leg openings into his leather combat boots. Instead of finding a shirt to wear, he decides to put the same tank top and T-shirt he grabbed earlier and puts them back on. Once he was dressed, he leaves the room and heads towards the Sacred Chambers as Vorador instructed him to.

Inside the Sacred Chamber, Vorador and Janos were talking to each other in a serious manner, almost as if something unexpected has happened recently. Doyle and the others begin planning the operation regarding the situation. But as they were plotting their plans, the vulpin-kitsune enters the chamber and spots the group nearby the circular platform near the luxurious gardens. And when he gets close to Janos and Vorador, his daughter, Serenity, runs towards her father as he picks her up. And because of this, Travas places his daughter onto his shoulders as he looks towards the two male vampires in front of him.

"What's going on, Vorador", Travas asked while examining his surroundings, seeing Doyle, Celestia, and Aramantha planning something at one of the tables. "Did something happen while was training or in the shower?" he asked again before Janos approaches the vulpin-kitsune with calm, yet slightly urgent eyes.

"We have just received a report from one of our Cabal spies just a few minutes ago", Janos answered as Travas places his hand-paws into his Gi pants pockets, allowing his daughter to gently hold onto his head for support. "It appears Kain is plotting to slaughter the residents of Nactholm at the break of dusk", he continued as Travas starts to clench his fists in response. While he was, however, Vorador begins to notice the amount of pressure the vulpin-kitsune was applying, seeing them nearing to the point where he could potentially cause his claws to sink right through his hand-paws

"What the hell for now?" Travas asked calmly, but with serious eyes as well.

"That, we do not know yet", Janos answered before sighing calmly. "All we know at this moment is that Kain is currently residing in the same mansion Vorador once lived in over four centuries ago", he explained as Vorador shifts his attention to the winged vampire.

"What!" Vorador exclaimed before he starts clenching his own fists and pacing back and forth. "Out of all the places in Nosgoth, he honestly had to choose my Mansion! How dare him!" he yelled before turning to face Janos and throwing his arms up out of frustration. "He has no right!" the vampire shouted before walking towards one of the trees nearby and smashing his fists violently onto the bark. "On top of that, we aren't even sure which direction he's going to be coming from!" he yelled before Travas suddenly starts growling out of aggravation, but with an unusual amount of aggression in it as well.

"Vorador, calm down", Travas shouted, causing the green vampire and everyone else to turn and face him. "If he's gonna be going to attack Nachtholm, I'm sure as hell he'll be going straight through the forest just to get there", he claimed. "And the last thing we need right now is to have you losing your temper to the point where you can't even think straight! Now settle down!" the vulpin-kitsune suggested while looking at Vorador with serious eyes. Despite his rage, the green vampire begins breathing through his nose slowly, closing his eyes and allowing himself to find the means to calm down.

"Alright… I'm a lot more calm now", Vorador claimed before reopening his eyes, looking at the vulpin-kitsune with a serious look on his face. "But know this, Travas; we intercept Kain at the fields near the mansion Ten o'clock sharp. Am I understood", he continued before Travas nods. "Good. If you need me, I will be in my quarters", the vampire claimed before he clutches onto his own hands and teleports from his quarters, leaving Travas and the others looking at each other in confusion. But before one of them could speak, Serenity begins tugging onto her father's pant leg, grabbing his attention as the vulpin-kitsune kneels down and looks at her.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Serenity asked curiously, but slightly worryingly as well.

"Well… it's not easy for me to explain this, but Daddy has to go out with the other vampires tonight. There's a foe that we have to stop before he tries to attack Nactholm", Travas explained, causing the vixen child's eyes to widen, gasping softly while covering her muzzle with her little hand-paws. Despite her shocked state, Travas smiles and places his right hand-paw on the top of her head, allowing his daughter to calm down. "But don't worry, sweetheart", he started before picking her up and placing his daughter on his shoulders, using his hand-paws to hold her feet to help support his daughter. "I have plenty of time to hang out with you", the vulpin-kitsune said with a smile on his face while carrying her to the Main Chambers.

"Thank you, Daddy", Serenity said softly, but much happier despite the situation the vampires were now facing. And as Travas takes his daughter to the Main Chambers, the others continue to make their plans regarding Kain's attack later on that night, hoping to find a solution before it was too late.

*Vorador's Mansion, about two hours later*

While the members of the Vampire Resistance were plotting their plans against Kain, the veteran vampire himself continues to indulge himself with a bottle of Nosgoth's finest blood. He sits within the heart of the dining room and continues to smirk in delight, knowing that the time to strike was drawing closer by the hour. While he continues to drink the bottle of blood like alcohol, he notices a brown haired male human, somewhere within his late twenties, entering the dining room through the twin doors in front of the rectangular table.

As Kain examines the human, he notices him wearing some sort of odd looking uniform, which consisted of a dark gray fabric along with dark red colored leather on the sides of his torso and thighs. But what caught his attention were the black colored eyeballs he had along with his sinister bright red colored pupils. Along with his eyes, he notices a collar attached to his neck, similar to the one the Mysterious Hooded Man gave him merely a few weeks ago. But before he could growl at the human with an annoyed tone, he notices him holding another bottle of Nosgoth's finest blood with his right hand. Because of the sight of the bottled blood, Kain manages to calm down enough to the point where he starts looking at the human with serious eyes.

"You there, state your business here!" Kain exclaimed almost calmly before the human smirks towards the vampire.

"I am here to provide you nourishment", the human claimed before setting the bottle on the table. "And to ask if you were able to capture the vulpin yet?" he continued before grabbing a chair and sitting at least five feet away from the annoyed vampire.

"No, I haven't", Kain answered before giving a soft, but reassuring smirk to him. "But I have made some arrangements accordingly regarding his capture", he claimed before grinning at the human.

"Excellent. Although I wish to stay and chat, I must be off since I am required else ware", the human replied before getting out of his chair and walking towards the bottle he placed on the table moments ago. He picks it up and hands it to Kain, where the vampire accepts his offer and sets it next to his golden gauntlet. "You'll need this blood when you battle against your enemy. I assure you on that".

"I thank you. Now be gone", Kain said calmly as the human turns towards the twin doors and walks towards them. But just as he gets in front of the doors, he stops and turns to face Kain.

"There is one more thing I ask", the human said, causing the vampire to nod despite his annoyance regarding his presence. "When are you planning to strike?" he asked as the vampire begins to softly smirk towards him.

"Tonight", was all Kain had to say before his smirk starts to widen into a grin. Then, the human nods and leaves the massive dining room, leaving Kain to sit at the heart of the chamber himself. But as he does, he looks at the collar he has in his possession, grinning delight with the fact that he perhaps might have the chance to defeat his pestilent rival. "Prepare yourself, Travas. Victory is mine for the taking".

*Inside the Vampire Citadel*

As the hours continue to fly by, the vampire resistance continues to plan their attack against Kain. Throughout the day, Travas continues to provide the necessary attention to his daughter, Serenity. For instance, he took his daughter to the park and lets her play at the playground. Later on that day, Travas plays some classic videogames with her such as Pac-man and Super Mario Bros. along with newer ones like Mario Kart Double Dash and Luigi's Mansion.

Nightfall finally approaches Nosgoth within a few hours, and the sun has finally set within the western horizon. And inside the vixen child's bedroom, Travas places the covers over his daughter before sitting down and reading one of the bedtime stories his mother used to read to him when he was a kit. But when he hits the last page of the book, Vorador knocks on the door, causing both Serenity and Travas to turn and face him curiously.

"Travas, it's time to go", Vorador said before he turns around. "Meet us at the Balcony and we shall depart from this place at once", he continued before walking towards the destination where he told the vulpin-kitsune to meet the others at. With the little time he had left, Travas finishes the last page for Serenity and closes the book, placing it back on the bookshelf next to her bed.

"I gotta go, Serenity. The other Vampires are waiting for me", Travas spoke softly before planting a gentle kiss on his daughters forehead.

"I wish you didn't have to go", Serenity replied softly, but slightly saddened as well. To cheer her up a bit, Travas places his left hand-paw onto her head, using his thumb to stroke the vixen child's forehead.

"I know, sweetheart", Travas replied before softly smiling at her. "But don't worry, Serenity, I'll be back as soon as we stop the bad guy from trying to harm the others in Nachtholm", he said reassuringly before kissing the vixen toddler's forehead as she starts to softly smile at him in return.

"Okay…" Serenity said softly while smiling at him gently. Then within a short moment, Misty enters the vixen child's room, only dressed in a pair of black pajama pants and gray tank top. In response, the vulpin-kitsune stands up and faces her.

"Thank you for taking the time to watch over my daughter, Misty", Travas thanked her with a soft smile on his face.

"It's no problem, Travas…" Misty replied softly before the vulpin-kitsune starts walking through the door. But before he gets out of Serenity's room, the female kitsune gently grabs a hold of his left arm, causing him to turn and face her. "Wait… can I talk to you for a moment", she asked before Travas calmly cocks a brow at her. But despite this, he sighs and nods, taking her out of his daughter's room and closing the door partially.

"What is it, Misty", Travas asked calmly, but curiously nonetheless.

"I… I wanted to apologize… about earlier, Travas…" Misty started while holding the bottom of her shirt down with her right hand-paw and covering her muzzle with her clenched left. Before she continues, she turns her head towards her left. "I shouldn't have… been forward with you like that… it was wrong of me…" she finished while tightening her grip on her tank top. But then, she suddenly blushes when she feels the vulpin-kitsune's hand-paw tilt her heat up and facing him, seeing him smile softly at her.

"It's alright, Misty…" Travas said reassuringly, but then his smile slowly fades and shifts his eyes towards his right. "It's just… I don't if I'm even ready to start another relationship with another woman yet", he explained before shifting his sights towards her again. "I told you earlier about me losing my wife barely a couple of years ago…" the vulpin-kitsune softly continued before the female kitsune shuts her eyes and tilts her head down again. "I'm sorry…" he finished before turning around and walking away from her.

"I understand…" Misty replied softly, but with a slightly saddened tone as well. When she said that, Travas stops just after he walks a few steps away from her. He turns around and walks back to her, using his right hand-paw to tilt her head up. As he does, Misty reopens her eyes and looks at him curiously, but with almost watery eyes.

"C'mere", Travas softly spoke with a soft smile on his face, gently placing a kiss on her right cheek.

As a response to that the vulpin-kitsune just did, Misty couldn't help but blush at him. She looks up at him and places her right hand-paw on his face before tilting her head down once more. Again, Travas tilts her head up and smiles, wrapping his arms around her waist as she did with his neck before planting a soft kiss on her muzzle. Within a short moment, though, he breaks the kiss and looks at her.

"I gotta go… I have to meet up with the others at the Balcony", Travas said before turning around and running towards the Balcony upstairs.

"Travas, be careful!" Misty shouted, causing the vulpin-kitsune to turn and face her as he tries running backwards.

"Will do, and take care of Serenity until I get back", Travas replied before turning around and sprints towards his destination. But on the way, he bumps into Raziel, who was also helping out Misty with watching over his child. "Raziel, thank you for helping Misty watching over Serenity while I'm gone", he thanked while smiling at the blue skinned demon.

"It isn't a problem, Travas", Raziel replied before placing his left hand in his black pajama pants pocket. "Besides, the last thing I need right now is to have the younger Kain find out about my presence before I am even resurrected", he added.

"True…" Travas replied before shaking the demon's right hand. "Alright, I gotta meet with the others at the Balcony upstairs. We'll be back as soon as we can", he finished before Raziel nods in understanding, thus allowing Travas to go upstairs to and meet with the others.

Out on the Balcony, Janos and the others continue to wait patiently for Travas. Vorador, on the other hand, starts to become impatient regarding his absence, causing him to growl because of it. Then within a few short moments, the vulpin-kitsune arrives and approaches the group, stopping just five feet in front of Vorador himself.

"Travas, where have you been? We were beginning to decide whether or not to depart without you", Vorador claimed while Travas finishes catching his breath.

"Sorry about that, guys! I had to talk with the caretaker before I came here", Travas claimed while stretching his arms forwards, then backwards before reclining them back to the sides. "Anyways, shall we head out", he asked.

"Yes", Janos replied before turning to face the direction where Vorador's Mansion lies. "Though I think it might be best if we sprinted there, mainly to avoid Kain sensing our energy signals", he added as the others nod in response.

"Of course", Vorador said before he prepares to launch himself towards the forest. "Now let us depart this place and start our Journey towards the meadows, where we will intercept Kain before he could travel towards Nachtholm", he finished before he and the others quickly launch themselves towards the woods, preparing to counterattack Kain's plans and reclaim the Mansion that belonged to Vorador himself.

*Near the Meadows, close by Vorador's Mansion*

While Travas and the others begin their journey towards the Mansion, Kain embarks on his towards Nachtholm, where his claimed attack would take place. Instead of teleporting towards the town, he decides to take the route that leads towards another meadow, thus savoring his blood-thirsty revenge and taking his sweet time there. Besides, what's the point in rushing to exacting revenge against a rival so quickly?

When he arrives, he turns to face the direction in which Nachtholm lies, smirking in delight. Though not equipped, he did possess the odd-looking collar that the Mysterious Hooded Man gave him a few weeks prior to this night and examines it, wondering if whether or not the item would work. Yet despite his doubts, he lowers his arm and faces Nachtholm once again, placing the collar back into his left pants pocket. But before he could progress, he suddenly senses a group of powerful warriors nearby. And there, landing on the ground just within twenty meters from him, was Janos and the other vampires, with Travas standing behind the others.

"Well if it isn't my former allies turned enemies, Janos and Vorador. I've expected you all to come and find me here", Kain claimed before turning to face his true enemy. "Even you, Travas!" he exclaimed as the vulpin-kitsune begins to look at him with serious, narrow eyes.

"Really now", Travas asked with a rather odd, soft growl. And before Kain could answer, Janos shifts his eyes towards him a bit with a questionable look on his face. "Then you know why we're here Kain", he said, again with the same odd growl from the moment before.

"I believe I do", Kain claimed with a smirk on his face, causing Travas to walk through the two vampires in front of him. As he does, Kain's eyes widen slightly in response to seeing the changes he had undergone in the past month. "What in the hell…?" he thought with surprise, but also remains calm despite what he is now witnessing.

"What's the matter, Kain? Did something catch your eye?" Travas asked almost sarcastically, but with seriousness in his voice, with his nine tails wagging slowly in delight.

"Perhaps", Kain answered calmly despite him having a serious look on his face. "I have to admit, Travas, I'm rather surprised by the changes you have undergone over the past month. Tell me, how did this transformation happen?"

"Does it honestly matter, Kain", Travas asked a lot calmer than before, but still has that growl in his tone.

"It does", Kain answered while placing his left hand in his pocket, grabbing something contained within. Although the vulpin-kitsune was curious about it, he continues looking at the vampire with serious eyes.

"Fine, If you really wanna know that bad, Kain; then let me indulge your curiosity", Travas replied before sighing out of frustration and annoyance. "I was struck by one of Aerocrothe's attacks just before he died at the tournament. Then the next thing I knew, I was suffering a deadly fever while my body was in deep pain. Then I find out that I grew eight more tails while I was in a month-long coma", he explained before narrowing his eyes at the vampire. "Does that answer your question?!"

"Yes", Kain replied before getting into battle position, with his claws spread out and prepared to kill. "Now, no more talking, I've waited far too long for this opportune moment of killing you at last. Time to die", he exclaimed before darting towards the vulpin-kitsune like a bullet. But Travas was no fool. He immediately teleports behind Kain and grabs him with his right hand-paw, throwing him towards the right and decking the vampire towards one of the boulders located nearby with his left.

At the moment he crashes on the boulder, the massive rock explodes like dynamite blowing up a brick wall. All that was left was a pile of smaller rocks while Kain was trying to recover from the crash. He manages to make a quick recovery, however, and immediately shoots towards Travas and strikes him with his claws. Although the vulpin-kitsune wasn't harmed, his shirt was ripped from the top right to the bottom left. He quickly removes the shirt, leaving only his gray colored tank top covering his muscular torso, and immediately flies towards Kain with his own claws ready to strike.

While Kain and Travas continue to battle, many of the vampires continue to cheer on for their companion as he continues fighting powerfully against him. Although Travas had the upper hand, Janos examines Kain and notices his smirk on his face. But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him. There was something about Travas' fighting style that changed. Instead of his usually tame style of fighting, the winged vampire notices that he was fighting with a rather more violent, blood-thirsty style.

"Something isn't quite right about his fighting style", Janos thought while examining the vulpin-kitsune closely. Vorador turns to face his sire and notices his suspicious, almost terrified expression on his face.

"Janos, is something disturbing you", Vorador asked, snapping Janos out of his trance as he turns his head towards his ally.

"Yes, but I'm not entirely sure what it is", Janos answered before turning to face the battle again. "However, did you happen to notice anything odd regarding Travas' fighting?" he asked before the green vampire turns towards the battle. At first, he thought it was his expertise that was allowing him to have the upper hand. But when he examines it more closely, he begins to notice Travas' rather unusually more violent approach he's going with his attacks, seeing some of his fur sticking up in a rather aggressive manner.

"Now I see what you mean…" Vorador answered. "Is it possible for his transformation to be the factor responsible for his erratic behavior?"

"Perhaps…" Janos replied while watching the battle between Kain and Travas go on. "All we can do now is watch the battle and keep a close eye on Travas. I sense he has undergone much more than eight extra tails… but something he contains within him", he continued while watching the battle progress to higher standards.

Up above, Travas continues to fight against Kain like a soldier focusing on the one objective he was assigned. That objective was for him to stop Kain and prevent him from going to Nachtholm. And he does so by fighting this bitter rival almost like a fight to the death. But the vulpin-kitsune knew better than to kill his opponent. So instead of killing him, he gives him the most painful, most aggressive fury he has by striking him with his claws, knees, and feet alike.

On Kain's side, the only thing he had on his mind at that moment was to defeat Travas and use the item the Hooded Man gave him against the vulpin-kitsune, thus using him as his puppet. What he expected out of this was to defeat his rival with ease after Travas was put into a coma after killing Aerocrothe and succumbing to a fever the kitsune champion cursed him with. However, he never expected the vulpin-kitsune to be this aggressive when he engages in battle with him when they met in the future. In fact, he was surprisingly shocked about what Travas has become despite the vampire remaining as calm as possible. But he couldn't help but look at the vulpin-kitsune with shock and angry looking eyes.

"What in the hell…?" Kain asked within his mind while trying to defend himself against Travas' fury. "His fighting style is a lot more aggressive than I have anticipated. Something tells me this is not going to be easy fight for me", he thought before blocking one last attack before Travas raises both of his arms above him.

"Right you are, Kain", Travas replied with a growl in his voice before suddenly striking the vampire's head with his clenched hand-paws. Within a short moment, Kain violently crashes onto the grassy ground as the vulpin-kitsune pulls his arms to the right side and cups his hand-paws together. "Not just that, but this is also gonna be a hell of a lot painful for you!" he shouted again before summoning forth a powerful, bright blue colored energy blast within his cupped hand-paws. And down below, the others watch as their aggressive ally begins to deliver the final move that would stop… perhaps kill his opponent at last. Yet for some strange reason, Janos was rather disturbed by Travas' choice rather than cheerful about it.

"I do not know why… but something is telling me this isn't the right thing he has to do", Janos thought before Travas suddenly fires the deadly beam towards the vampire, exploding the area he was in like a powerful landmine capable enough to destroy a massive shopping mall parking lot. But within about a short half a minute, the vulpin-kitsune lands on the ground directly in front of the winged vampire. Instead of a confident smirk on his face, Travas looks towards them with a calm, almost stern set of eyes while walking right past him.

"Travas, are you alright", Vorador asked curiously, but with a calm sense of worry in his tone as well before the vulpin-kitsune shrugs with a heavy sigh and slightly clenches his fists.

"I'm fine", Travas answered almost rather rudely, but calmly nonetheless. "C'mon, let's get the hell out of here", he said calmly before starting to walk towards the direction where the Citadel lies. But within about three seconds passing, he begins hearing some rather hysterical laughing coming from Kain himself. Thus, he stops and begins to clench his fists out of anger and annoyance.

"Did you honestly believe you could defeat me so easily like the last time", Kain asked with a smirk on his face, causing Travas to turn and face him out of annoyance. But when he does, his eyes widen with calm surprise in response to seeing the vampire hardly wounded. "I have to admit I was rather taken by surprise with your newfound strength and aggression in your fighting. But in the end, did it really matter who was stronger?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean", Travas asked calmly, but with a soft growl in his voice as well.

"Allow me to demonstrate", Kain replied before he suddenly teleports out of the vulpin-kitsune's sight.

Although Travas knew that he was teleporting behind him, when he turns around, however, he was suddenly met with a rather ferocious sucker punch in the face. And before he knew it, Travas found himself in a pile of rubble nearly fifty meters away from where he originally stood. He quickly recovers and flies towards the vampire, where he again teleports away from him for the second time. This time, he teleports to his left side and jabs his abdominal region with a fierce knee kick, thus taking the breath out of the vampuric vulpin-kitsune. And as Travas' breath was taken out of him, Kain fiercely strikes his back with both of his hands clenched, causing the vulpin-kitsune to crash violently onto the grassy earth.

As the fight continues to progress in Kain's favor; the others watch with shock and almost with a sense of horror when they witness Travas starting to get beaten to a pulp. But when the smoke and dust clears, Travas quickly recovers and gets back into battle position, setting his sights on Kain as he smirks back at the vulpin-kitsune in delight. Now the vampire's plans were starting to go according to his expectations. Both warriors immediately dart towards each other like two sports cars in a head on collision, with the impact being their fists striking at one another.

Although Kain has the upper hand, Travas is still managing to put up a fight against the ambitious vampire. Every punch was blocking Kain's attacks, and every kick is cancelling out his. For almost a minute, they both were at a stalemate against each other. But when the minute passes, the ambitious vampire starts gaining the upper hand once again, where he strikes his head with both hand clenched together. The result, Travas immediately plummets towards the ground with full force, but manages to make a quick recovery before he crashes. The vulpin-kitsune looks up at the vampire in the skies above, in the exact moment Kain teleports away from that location.

As Travas begins searching for him, Kain teleports right behind him and attempts to strike him, but the vulpin-kitsune manages to stop him in time and give the vampire a nasty uppercut. Thus, Kain's nose was broken and takes a few steps back because of the force. However, the vampire begins growling at him angrily as Travas looks at him with stern eyes.

"I'm not falling for that shit twice, Kain", Travas shouted while getting back into battle position. And within a moment, Kain recovers and uses his left forearm to wipe his bloody nose, using his right to put his nose back in place.

"We'll see about that", Kain replied before teleporting out of the vulpin-kitsune's sight. Despite his annoyance, the vulpin-kitsune closes his eyes and begins to breathe slowly, allowing him to focus on his surroundings. And within a short, prolonged moment, the vulpin turns to his right and deals a heavy blow to the ambitious vampire's stomach, taking the breath out of his lungs before kicking Kain's face fiercely. Thus, he was sent flying towards one of the large pine trees just about fifty-five meters from the vulpin-kitsune's position and pierces through at least five of them like a bullet.

While Kain was piercing through some of the trees, Travas teleports right behind the final tree he expected him to crash onto. But when he pierces right through the last one, Kain opens his eyes and teleports out of his sights. However, the vulpin-kitsune sensed that he was located somewhere in the skies above. Instead of teleporting again, he flies up in the sky and spots Kain, where he was covering most of the full moon. Yet for some strange reason, he began to feel a sudden surge of power resonating within him at the sight of where the moon was exposed.

"What ails you, Travas? Did you not expect me to teleport from you after I shot right through the trees like an arrow?" Kain asked almost sarcastically, causing the vulpin-kitsune to eye the vampire with anger filled eyes, which his eyes were slowly turning to slits. But the only response the vampire gets is him teleporting directly behind him and strikes him. But the ambitious vampire was no fool, however, and manages to block the vulpin-kitsune's attack with ease. And with this, he grabs a hold of his forearm and violently throws Travas towards the meadow, where he manages to quickly recover while Kain teleports towards his direction.

At the moment Kain arrives, both he and his rival re-engage into battle and start striking each other with fierce punches and kicks. Again, their attacks were cancelled out every time they try striking at each other since it they were attacking each other almost simultaneously. But this wouldn't last forever. Within two minutes, Travas manages to start overpowering the vampire and strikes his face using his left foot-paw.

"Take that, asshole!" Travas intimidated while watching him plummet towards the ground, crashing onto it violently and seeing him get covered in a cloud of dust and dirt. "Humph! Fucking amateur", he spoke before turning around. And the next thing he knew, Kain strikes the vulpin's face with a powerful energy blast, covering his face with smoke as he suddenly crashes onto the ground below. And as he recovers, he begins rubbing his eyes and tries to clean them off. But within a moment after his eyesight recovers, he hears a snapping noise after feeling something wrap around his neck.

"Now, obey me, my puppet!" Kain exclaimed before Travas starts feeling pain around his body. But not just any pain, but that in which he feels trying to resist.

"What the fuck", Travas exclaimed in his mind as he starts feeling his body starting to act under Kain's command. But despite this, he begins to try and pull the collar off as means of resisting. But because of his body acting against his will, it was a lot harder for him to remove it than he realized.

While Travas was trying endlessly to rip the collar off of him, the other vampire continue to watch him with shock and some confusion regarding what was happening. As for Janos and Vorador, they began to notice the color of his eyeballs shifting back and forth between white and black. In a similar manner, they notice his pupils shifting back and forth between his usual emerald green color and sinister bright red color. Within about ten seconds of struggling, Travas trips and lands onto his back, rolling to his left side to try and pull the damn collar off of him. Kain, on the other hand, continues to watch and laugh hysterically at his unsuccessful efforts.

"Honestly, Travas… do you really think you can rip the collar off like an ordinary piece of scrap paper? Well think again, you pestilent young fool", Kain yelled while Travas continues to try and rip the damn collar off, but could not find the strength to do so.

As Kain continues to watch Travas struggling in vain with amusement, the vulpin-kitsune continues trying to pull the collar off as much as he could. Then, for some reason, he begins to look up at the full moon while pulling on the collar, despite his arms retaliating against his will by not moving. While looking up at the full moon, he begins to feel a sudden surge of power flowing through his body again. In fact, his blood was almost beginning to boil as a response to staring at the moon. But then, he closes his eyes and finally rips off the collar with full force, quickly turning to face Kain with angered, green eyes that soon turn blood red.

"Kain, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT COLLAR?!" Travas shouted with an aggressive growl in his tone, with his blood red pupils turning into slits.

"Let's just say I've acquired it from an old friend and nothing more", Kain answered with a smirk on his face as Travas' growls become unusually louder and slightly higher pitched than before. And within the next moment, the raging vulpin-kitsune teleports to him and grabs a hold of his neck, where he powerfully throws him towards one of the mountains nearby and causes the vampire to crash violently on the surface. And before Kain could recover, Travas immediately teleports towards him and grabs a hold of his neck with his left hand-paw, shoving him powerfully into the mountain and strikes him endlessly with his right fist.

"What organization is this old friend of yours working for?! Where the hell did he acquire the collar from?! Is he the leader of the Organization?!" Travas asked with furious growls while beating the vampire like a punching bag. "ANSWER ME!" he shouted before Kain begins to power up immensely.

"You think I'm some fool in whom you think can be used as a mere punching bag?!" Kain replied angrily before his eyes flare up with anger and stops both of his punches. "Think again", he said before the energy explodes like a supernova, blowing Travas towards one of the boulders nearly forty meters away from his position.

Within a moment, the vulpin-kitsune crashes onto the boulder in a violent manner, demolishing it into smaller pieces. The next thing Travas knew was that he was that Kain teleports to his location and fires two powerful bolts of lightning towards the vulpin-kitsune from his hands. With the pain flowing through his body, Travas begins screaming out in agonizing as the jolts of electricity paralyze his body, preventing him from trying to resists its influence. Then again, Kain uses his bolts of lightning like strings to a puppet. Thus, he finalizes his attack by twisting his arms about, causing the vulpin-kitsune to twist exactly like his arms until crosses his arms in an 'X' shape and pulls them apart.

"No, Travas!" Janos shouted as the vulpin-kitsune's body twists violently around three times before landing on his back. Then when Travas starts losing consciousness, he knew that he had to do something before the matter gets any worse than it already is. "Vorador, cover me while I fight against Kain", he ordered before turning to face the others. "The rest of you stay on the sidelines until you are required to fight!" the winged vampire finished before facing Kain and teleporting towards him And when he does, the two quickly engage into battle while the others watch the battle between Kain and their sire start.

As Kain and Janos just start their battle, Travas begins to slowly regain consciousness and turns his body over to face the two clashing warriors. Then he starts crawling towards them slowly while trying to recover. But the injuries became too great for him to bear. Again, he collapses on the grassy ground, but the least he can do is turn his body and lie on his back.

"Shit… I didn't expect him to be this strong…" Travas thought while looking up at the full moon above with weary eyes. But as he does, he begins to see images of his former wife, with some of them being memories they've had when she was still alive. "Umah… I don't know if you can hear me… but please… help me find the strength I need to end this", he thought just before his nine tails begin wagging oddly at the sight of the full moon.

Over the next few minutes, Travas continues to look at the full moon with weary eyes while Kain and Janos continue their battle. But then, all of the sudden, his weary eyes shoot wide open in correlation to his emerald green pupils turning yellow, with the slit irises disappearing as well. The vulpin-kitsune begins grunting in correlation to his heart beating slowly, but very powerfully as well. His blood starts to boil, the muscles on his arms, legs and torso began to bulge, with their size beginning to nearly double in size and causing the tank top to partially tear. Along with this, some of the veins on his arms and shoulders began to bulge in correlation to the bulging muscles on his body.

While Travas' body was undergoing another change, Kain starts to have the upper hand and knocks the now bloodied and bruised vampire towards the same mountain where his opponent knocked him towards earlier. In response, Vorador and the others start rushing towards their fallen sire as Kain starts beating him to a pulp with one brutal punch after another. But before he could progress, he suddenly senses a skyrocketing power surge flowing through Travas. Vorador slowly turns his head towards Travas' direction, discovering that the vulpin-kitsune's muscles were bulging. And as soon as he witnessed this, he knew for sure that something was wrong… dead wrong.

"My God… how is he getting that much power?" Vorador thought in shock as the others try to stop Kain's ravenous appetite for destruction. But they, too, were quickly taken out by the ambitious vampire himself, thus allowing him to face Janos again as Vorador turns to face the others. "I don't know what's going on… but something is not right about this", he thought again before darting towards his sire, where Kain drops him onto the ground as Janos begins coughing up a portion of his blood.

"Now you will understand what it truly means when you stand in my way", Kain growled before raising his arms over his head and forming a deadly energetic blade in his hands. "It's time for you to-" he started until he was suddenly interrupted by a sudden surge of power flowing through the vulpin-kitsune's body, thus causing both Kain and Janos to turn and face him with shock. "My God… how did he acquire that much energy within a short period of time", the ambitious vampire spoke softly while eying the vulpin-kitsune's body, in which his muscles continue to bulge and his heart beating faster, louder, and more powerfully than moments before.

"Dear God…" Janos hoarsely spoke while eyeing Travas' bulging body with shock, perhaps with horror as well.

While Janos continues to look towards Travas with shock, Kain immediately darts towards the vulpin-kitsune with haste. But then he comes to an abrupt stop when he gets within about a fifteen feet range, seeing Travas raise his torso while his head was tilted back and giving soft growls. But despite this, the ambitious vampire was able to tell that his fangs have grown a lot sharper than they usually were. Then within a mere moment, the vulpin-kitsune tilts his head forward and slightly spreads his arms out, revealing his bright red colored pupil-less eyes to the others. And the same time, his growls grow louder and more aggressive as a sudden surge of energy explodes like a bomb, with the ghastly white aura engulfing Travas' body like wildfire.

The next thing that everyone else knew was Travas managing to float at least a foot above his position, with his tank top ripping due to his muscles continuing to bulge more powerfully. In a similar manner, his growls start to become deeper as Kain quickly jumps backwards at least five meters farther away from him. And within ten seconds, Travas' energy blows into a pillar of energy as the ground around his location explodes with it, creating a crater that was nearly twenty feet in diameter. The only exception to this was that a small circular piece of land remains intact where he floats despite the rest of it being at least twenty feet at the deepest.

As the transformation continues on, the others began to notice Travas' muzzle starting to increase in length only slightly, but slightly sinister as well. Again, his growls start getting deeper with each passing second while his muscles start bulging slightly bigger in size. Suddenly, however, the small circular land suddenly pulls off like a pillar and rises upward with him. And before the others knew it, the rest of Travas' clothes rip off as he starts to sharply increase in size.

While the vulpin-kitsune begins to increase in size, his legs start to have a more canine appearance instead of their usual human-like stance. His claws grow sharper as the fur on his back, shoulders, elbows, and parts of his legs grow thicker. And within a short moment after the transformation completes, the newly transformed, fifty foot vulpin-kitsune turns to face the moon and tilts his head upward, giving a rather deep growl before howling with it. But at the moment he does, Vorador's eyes widen upon the realization of what he's become.

"My God… Aerocrothe, you son of a bitch", Vorador cursed within his thoughts before looking towards the creature with anger and clenches his fist. "You passed the curse on to Travas at the moment you died. How dare you", he thought before growling out of anger. Within a moment, Janos, despite his shock and horror, turns to face the green vampire out of curiosity.

"Vorador, what is it?" Janos asked before Vorador turns to face him.

"It seems Aerocrothe passed the curse onto him", Vorador answered angrily before turning to the transformed vulpin-kitsune howling at the moon.

"What do you mean?" Janos asked again, confused by what he meant by it.

"Aerocrothe passed on the curse to Travas after he was defeated. But not just any curse… but the curse of the were-kitsune", Vorador explained before Kain turns to face him, approaching the green vampire rather hastily.

"What's the meaning of this, Vorador?! What do you mean he's become some sort of were-kitsune?!" Kain asked before grabbing a hold of the vampire's white shirt. "I demand you to tell me at once!" he demanded before the vampire shrugs out of reluctance and annoyance.

"Very well… but I suggest you pay attention", Vorador suggested. "In normal cases, a person transforms into a werewolf when he or she is cursed and the moon is full. The same thing goes with someone who's cursed with the were-kitsune curse, but with one distinction".

"And what is this distinction?" Kain asked with a growl in his voice.

"The only factor that distinguishes between the two is how the transformation is caused", Vorador claimed. "A werewolf can transform as soon as the full moon is exposed. A were-kitsune, on the other hand, can only transform when the cursed individual looks at the full moon for exactly three minutes", he explained. But before Kain could reply, the were-kitsune turns to face the ambitious vampire, causing him to turn to face the creature as well. And before he could get into battle position, the transformed vulpin-kitsune grabs a hold of him and violently throws him towards the ground, making Kain crash onto the meadow with full force.

While the vampire tries to recover, the were-kitsune picks him up by his left leg and hurls him towards the mountains nearby, crashing onto it with a powerfully painful impact. While he was trying to recover, he notices the transformed vulpin-kitsune walking towards him slowly. He knew he had to do something quick, or otherwise, he was gonna meet an unfortunate demise. But then he quickly turns his sights towards the town of Nachtholm, where his one way ticket comes to mind. Before the were-kitsune could grab a hold of the vampire, he quickly manages to jump towards the meadow and starts sprinting towards Nachtholm, hoping to find refuge within the town or at least distance himself from the creature.

*Within the Vampire Citadel*

As Kain starts fleeing towards Nachtholm, Misty begins to head for the couch located in the Main Chambers. But when she starts placing the bed sheets on the couch, she suddenly hears a deep, kitsune-like howl coming from the meadow near Vorador's mansion. She heads outside and grabs a pair of long binoculars from the cabinet nearby, looking towards the direction in which the noise came from. Within moments, she spots a monstrous looking were-kitsune with a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. And within an instant, she recognizes who the newly transformed were-kitsune was, thus leaning her head slightly backwards away from the binoculars in her hand-paws.

"Oh dear God no…" Misty spoke softly before shaking her head. "Travas…" she continued before closing her eyes, with Raziel entering the Balcony outside.

"Misty, is something bothering you?" Raziel asked before she turns to face him.

"It's Travas", Misty answered. "He's transformed into a were-kitsune", she claimed, causing the pale blue-skinned demon to cock a brow at her.

"A were-kitsune…?" Raziel asked in a confused, but suspicious manner.

"Here", Misty replied while handing him the binoculars. "I think it might be best if you saw this for yourself", she suggested before Raziel starts looking through the binoculars. And within moments the demon lowers the binoculars and looks at the same direction with shocked, widened eyes.

"My God…" Raziel said softly, but shockingly before turning to face the female kitsune. "How did he become as monstrous as this?"

"This has to be my former master's doing", Misty suggested before facing the direction where Nachtholm lies. "Look, I don't have time to explain right now, but you gotta trust me on this", she said before preparing to jump, positioning herself as that of an athlete in a marathon. "I'm gonna go help the others stop Travas before he ends up destroying Nosgoth. I need you to look out for his daughter while I'm gone. Do you understand", the female kitsune said before facing Nachtholm once again. Although Raziel wasn't sure what to believe, he nods in understanding.

"Alright… be careful", Raziel replied.

"Noted", was all Misty could say before she suddenly launches herself towards the town of Nachtholm, hoping she could intercept the others there before it was too late.

*At the town of Nachtholm*

Nightfall has come and the residents of the small town of Nactholm start walking back towards their homes to sleep throughout the peaceful night. But the peaceful night was soon interrupted when an injured vampire with silver white hair, pale white skin, and black/red colored armor suddenly darts through the town. As a result, many of the citizens start to panic and scatter around the town like a pedestrian mob running away from the cops. But no, this vampire wasn't on the hunt for blood. Instead, he was being pursued by something monstrous within the distance.

Once the civilians realize this, they turn to face the north-eastern direction in which the vampire was looking at. And there, coming within a short distance was what appeared to be a monstrous nine tailed kitsune, which was running towards the town with its hind legs. The kitsune was roughly fifty feet in size contained orange and black fur on its monstrous, bulky muscular body. The monster's claws were as sharp as any freshly made blade in comparison to its unusually sharper fangs. And within a matter of seconds, it arrives before the town and looks down towards its main target: the vampire, Kain.

"So, the monstrous kitsune follows its prey to Nactholm, I see", Kain spoke softly with a smirk on his face. "Very well then, come at me you vile beast!" he shouted just before the kitsune growls ragingly and starts striking at Kain with its razor sharp claws. The vampire wasn't easily fooled, however, and starts to dodge effortlessly. Instead of striking the vampire, however, the monster accidentally attacks a female and kills her. But the monstrous kitsune didn't care. All it wanted was Kain's blood in its hands.

As the vampire continues to dodge the kitsune's attacks, he takes the opportunity to feed off of the blood the monster accidentally slaughters to heal his body from the injuries he's sustained. But when he feeds off one of a young female human, however, the kitsune manages to severely strike the vampire and knock him right towards the cove shores. But when he tries to recover, he notices that the massive kitsune was just about ten feet from where he was, causing him to look towards the monster with widened, shocked eyes.

"What the hell's become of him…? How was he able to acquire the ability to transform into a Were-kitsune just by looking at the full moon?!" Kain thought shockingly within his mind before the kitsune raises its claws upwards and ready to kill. But the vampire quickly starts to summon whatever energy he could manifest and closes his eyes. "I hate to be the one to flee from a battle, but it seems I am in need of nourishment and must return to the Sanctuary of my grave", the vampire thought just moments before the kitsune hurls its right hand-paw towards him. Thankfully for the vampire, however, he manages to teleport back to the place where he was resurrected, causing the kitsune to miss its target.

As an almost immediate response to missing its target, the kitsune starts to growl furiously before smashing its hand-paws violently and powerfully onto the cove shores. Then, it turns its sights towards some of the surrounding civilians and prepares its claws for a much needed slaughter fest. But before it could start striking towards the civilians, however, the monstrous kitsune suddenly sniffs its nose and catches the scent of what it believes to be its target. Almost immediately, it turns to face the southern direction in which it was coming from, causing the kitsune to grin and lick its muzzle in delight. Thus, it gets onto all paws and quickly sprints towards its destination like a sports car, knowing for sure that its prize waits within.

After a brief minute passes, the other vampires arrive into the heart of the town itself. But when they arrive, they discover the horrific massacre, although accidental, caused by the were-kitsune himself. Soon, Misty herself arrives on the scene and witnesses the small, but bloody massacre the other vampires now bestow upon.

"Oh my God… what the hell happened?" Misty asked, upon which one of the witnesses and the vampires walk towards the female kitsune.

"There was a monstrous giant kitsune chasing a vampire with white hair not too long ago. The vampire teleported away from this place, but the monstrous kitsune ran straight to the south just a minute ago", the female witness explained while pointing towards the southern direction.

"Excellent! Thank you for telling us the location of the were-kitsune", Janos said before turning to face Misty. "What are you doing here?"

"I've heard the howls not too long ago and decided to come to Nachtholm and investigate what was going on", Misty answered before turning her head towards her right, thus looking to the south. "But now that you've mentioned 'were-kitsune', I think it might be best to go after him", she suggested.

"Of course, but you must go back to the Citadel and keep watch over Serenity", Vorador ordered before the female kitsune turns to face him.

"I already have Raziel keeping an eye on her", Misty replied. "But I have to go since I'm the only one that has the means to revert him back to normal", she claimed a few moments before Vorador lets out a sigh in frustration. But then Janos steps forth and looks at her curiously.

"Wait, you have the means to stop him?" Janos asked curiously.

"Yes", Misty answered as the others look towards her curiously. "I don't have the time to explain. Right now, we need to focus on stopping the were-kitsune before he causes anymore destruction", she suggested before the others nod in agreement.

"Alright, let us make haste before he possibly gets to Meridian", Janos ordered before him and the others immediately dart towards the south with haste. "Travas… please don't do anything reckless until we find you…" he thought as they continue to journey towards the were-kitsune's location, hoping to get to him before it was too late.

---

Well, it seems Travas managed to survive the deadly illness despite having pneumonia-like symptoms with a two hundred eighty degree or higher fever. However, it appears Travas has grown eight extra tails during his month long coma, totaling to nine tails in all. And during the fight between Travas and Kain, the vulpin-kitsune transforms into a were-kitsune after looking at the full moon for three straight minutes. Now, he continues to hunt down the ambitious vampire in hopes of killing him. Will the were-kitsune manage to kill his enemy? Will Janos and the others manage to stop him? Find out in the next installment of 'Legacy of Travas'.

Travas © Shawntae Howard

Janos, Raziel, Umah, and Vorador © Edios/Crystal Dynamics/Silicon Knights/Square Enix Europe

Story and other Characters © me