Hey guys, Striker777 here with the next chapter of Loki's Renard. Be sure to comment and vote and all that good shit, but for now, onto the story!
razorhusky234: Thanks again mate. Riveria will always be number 1 mum, no need to worry about that.
danlewupg: Thanks mate.
SeanOkamiX: I appreciate it man, and I will not lie, I wore a smile the entire time I wrote Riveria scene. As for the Freya Familia thing, I'm not planning on making it a story at the moment, but maybe things will change later down the line. Who knows.
AnxiousAndromeda: Awe, thank you so much. I highly doubt I'm as good as you say but I'll strive for that title you gave me and do it justice (Astraea Styled Justice! haha). I look forward to your continued support.
Loki looked at the status update with glee, watching as the Falna on Akihide's back shone brightly as he gained his abilities. After his encounter with Evilus a few days ago, and giving him a few days of rest, Loki decided it was high time she updated his status to see where he was at. She could only smirk as she saw the numbers being put out.
Status:-
Level: 1
Strength: 648(C)→723(B)
Endurance: 642(C)→743(B)
Dexterity: 711(B)→801(A)
Agility: 769(B)→889(A)
Magic: 721(B)→834(A)
Magic: Kaizen no Mon
Skills: Mico Grandus
Development Abilities: N/A
"Congrats Aki-chan. You've got three stats in A now. That's more than enough to enter Floor 11 now." she congratulated the small boy. Riveria, Gareth and Finn, who were all in the room, were extremely impressed with his growth rate. They hadn't seen anything like it in their lives, having someone reach any of their stats in B in just over half a year of being an adventurer. It made them wonder how long it would take him to rank up as well, and begin his true process of being an adventurer. After he ranked up, he would be able to traverse the upper levels of the Cave Labyrinth. It was exciting to think about for the three older adventurers.
Akihide, however, wasn't too keen on celebrating. "That's cool." he muttered, before putting his shirt back on and leaving the room. "I'm gonna go get something to eat." he said as he left, closing the door behind him.
Riveria sighed. "He's been sleeping in my bed for almost a week now, and he's still suffering from night terrors. It's understandable, especially considering his age, but there has to be something we can do to help him."
"I feel your pain, Riveria..." muttered Gareth, looking at the door. "The light in his eyes when we first met him aren't there anymore. It's been dulled by the cruel hand of fate."
Finn nodded. "He needs time to get over what happened. Best thing to do is to be there for him. Give him a shoulder to cry on, but try not to set him off with questions and bringing it up. He needs to come to us."
"What if he doesn't?" asked Gareth, looking at Finn. "He could simply shut himself off from everything and everyone and decide not to open up to us. That's a possibility we need to consider."
"We can have Riveria bring it up in a few weeks if he doesn't come to us first, but we need to give him time." stressed Finn, getting a nod from the three other people in that room. "What I'm curious about is why the Thanatos Familia would attack the middle of a street with no real reason. Call Evilus what you want, they're meticulous planners and they don't do things on a whim. So why attack the middle of the street in broad daylight?"
"They must have some goal in mind that we aren't yet aware of." said Riveria, getting a frown from the others. "What exactly they're planning is elusive to us. It's beginning to become a giant pain worrying about what all these attacks could mean or what purpose they serve other than to spread general destruction or fear, but the people are scared enough as it is."
"Really doesn't make sense at all." contributed Loki, frowning as she thought about what could be done or what it all could mean. "I mean, if an attack seems like a random attack, most people would think it was just a random attack by Evilus. But not these guys, they're always planning something."
"Question is, what are they planning?" asked Finn, closing his eyes in concentration, hoping to find an answer.
Akihide kept glancing around nervously as he made his way through the streets of Orario. His hands were shaking as he walked down the street, on edge for another attack. However, he chose not to come armed with his weapons today. One look at his weapons this morning had left him completely incapacitated, leading him to leave them behind. He couldn't look at his weapons, let alone touch them or use them in battle. It gave him a sinking feeling of despair whenever he thought about them, about what he had done while using them.
About the lives he took.
It was a horrifying thing to experience at any age, but when the person experiencing it was a seven year old pre-pubescent boy? That fucked him up. The mind of a child was not designed to cope with the extreme amounts of stress that came with taking lives, leading to multiple instances of insanity and mental illness. Akihide was luckily, or unluckily as some people would see it, slightly desensitised to violence due to the Dungeon as well as his hometown's complete annihilation. That did not, however, help him deal with the extreme amounts of stress he was going through after killing someone.
After killing the members of Evilus, Akihide knew he had done the right thing thanks to Riveria and her rational approach to the topic. Because of him, the people were safe and he had saved a lot of lives that would have been lost. Rationally, he did a good thing. However, he was still suffering the psychological scars of ending the life of another human being. No matter how much someone tried to tell him he did good, a small part of his mind whispered in his ear that he was still a murderer, he had still snuffed out the life of a person, no matter how evil they were. In his young mind, no matter how you put it, he had done something horrible and unforgivable.
Before, he said he didn't care about justice because he wanted to save lives, but in the heat of the moment, he ended up taking them instead. He briefly wondered if justice would soon be coming for him, for taking all those lives.
"Akihide?" asked a voice from out of nowhere, getting the young boy to turn around at it's familiarity. Sure as he expected, his blue-haired party member was right behind him, wearing a set of civilian clothes, including a blue turtleneck sweater and a pair of black jeans. "What are you doing out here?" she asked him, taking his hand. "I thought you were meant to be resting at the Twilight Manor after the attack."
Akihide looked down. "I just needed some air." he muttered, looking at the girl he trusted his life with on a regular basis. "Clear my head a bit, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that." replied Ardee with a sigh. "My sister isn't letting me go out on patrols anymore until either Evilus becomes a smaller threat, which is never happening, or I level up. But even then, Lord Ganesha won't level my up until my stats are all at least A, but he wants them to be S if possible, or even have me cap them out! What the hell?!" she yelled out in frustration. "I mean, my last status update got my basic abilities all up to C! Shakti says I'm doing good, but I can't go down to Floor 11 with you guys until you're all ready, or until I get at least 2 basic abilities up to B."
Akihide thought for a moment about weather he should tell her about his basic abilities and how he's now ready for Floor 11, but decided against it. The thought of wielding those weapons again got to him too much to even think about it. Instead, he decided to move away to another topic. "I like your outfit. You have a day off too?" he asked, pointing to her clothes.
Ardee smiled at the boy. "Aw, thanks! And yeah, I was actually on my way to see if Ryu and Airmid are free so we could hang out while you recover, but you should join us! It'll be great to take your mind off things."
Akihide considered it for a moment, thinking about how it would be good to get his mind off what happened a few days ago. He was out, they were out, so it would be good to go out with Kiddy Party and just take his mind off everything.
With a smile on his face, plastered on well for a kid his age, he replied. "Sure, let's go."
"Thanks for stopping by. Please come again." robotically said a tired Airmid. She slumped over her desk as the last adventurer left, high potions and elixirs in hand. They had a major rush earlier, and Airmid was exhausted. After another lesson on how to make potions from her tutor and then see how well they sell. Since she didn't have the development ability she needed yet, mixing, her potions were of a lower quality than the potions of her senior members, meaning they didn't sell well apart from new adventurers who didn't have enough money to buy other potions.
Airmid sighed as she thought about how she was lagging behind her other familia members. despite how many of them insisted that she not worry about the difference between them since she was only nine years old, and that no one expected her to suddenly get the mixing development ability at her age. It was simply unheard of, barring full-time adventurers such as Alfia, no one levelled up at such a young age. Airmid was determined to prove them wrong, though, and become level 2 before she became even more of a burden on her familia, so she didn't have to spend every day behind the front counter to try and pay back her familia.
"Airmid!" called out a loud and familia voice, getting the girl to sigh as she looked at the entrance, staring at two of the members of Kiddy Party. It was strange, since they had suspended going back into the Dungeon until Akihide and Ryuu fully recovered from their run-in with Evilus earlier in the week. That, and the two of them were in civilian clothes, well, Akihide was in his regular clothes without his armour or weapons, whilst Ardee had an entirely different outfit on.
"What can I do for you two?" asked the mage of Kiddy Party. "Are we discussing our return to the Dungeon?" she continued on, noticing a small flinch from Akihide.
Ardee smiled as she addressed her friend. "Nah, I was just on my way to ask if you wanted to hang out with me and Ryuu today, and I bumped into Akihide on the way here. Figured we could make it a Kiddy Party day out and just relax around Orario. So, are you free?" she asked with a smile.
Airmid didn't even have time to answer before her god came crashing through the back door, grabbing her by the back of her outfit and throwing her at her friends before ushering her out of the building. "As her god, she needs a day off! Don't come back until late at night!" he called out as the children were thrown out of the building.
Airmid looked at the doorway to her home, watching as her god shooed her away as if she were a stray cat or something. Annoyed at his antics, she decided to do what he said and leave for the day, grabbing the two and began pulling them down the street. "Come on then, let's get Ryuu."
Ryuu slammed her practice sword against the wooden stump, yelling as she swung her wooden blade into the stump, part training and part stress relief. Ever since the run-in with Evilus the other day, Ryuu had been tirelessly training hard. It was a part of her being ashamed of herself by having Akihide forced into a fight on the surface. She knew he could take care of himself against monsters, but humans were another story in and of itself. Ryuu remembered the first time she took a life a few months before. Since she was prepared for it and trained to be able to withstand the pressure and stress of it before by Kaguya and Alise, she had been fine after a few days.
Akihide, on the other hand, was not prepared for the horror of killing someone. He was able to go through the motions fine enough since he knew the fatal points for Goblins and Kobolds, and he could kill them easy enough, but killing a human came with an additional layer of stress and horror. She imagined him currently sleepless and exhausted in the Twilight Manor, much like she had been after her first kill, only much, much worse. She grit her teeth as she thought about it, swinging her sword again and yelling as she put all her strength into the swing, breaking a fairly large chunk out of the post.
"Oh Ryuu, what did that post ever do to you?" asked the soothing voice of her goddess behind her. Ryuu turned to look at the brown haired beauty, before dropping her eyes to the ground in shame. "Are you still upset about what happened on patrol a few days ago?" the goddess asked her child, getting a small nod from the elf. "Oh Ryuu, it wasn't your fault. No one could have known that Sterben of the Thanatos Familia would appear and cause havoc, much less you. There's no point beating yourself up over it."
"I know all that, Lady Astraea." muttered Ryuu, looking at her goddess with downcast eyes and a look of sorrow. "But we made a seven year old boy kill someone... that can't just be overlooked... I forced that boy to throw away his innocence and take the life of someone."
"Sterben forced him to, as did Evilus. You are not to blame." said Astraea, gripping Ryuu's shoulder and pulling her youngest child in for a small hug. "You can't keep beating yourself up like this. It wasn't you fault, you had no control of the situation, it was impossible for anythin-"
"But if I was stronger..." muttered Ryuu, Astraea already seeing her point. "If I was on Sterben's level, no, even stronger than that, I could have stopped him from killing those Evilus members. I could have shouldered that burden on my own. If I had the strength..."
"Ryuu, you're only a level 1, and an eleven year old girl. No one is expecting you to be strong enough to take on Evilus singlehandedly. No one should, especially not yourself." said the goddess of justice, cupping the cheeks of the elf child in her warm hands. "There will be plenty of time to get stronger, but you don't need to shoulder the burden of the world on your shoulders alone. That's what friends, and your familia are for. To support you in your endeavours, to bear the weight of them with you, and to help pick you up when you fall. You can always, and I mean always, rely on your familia and your friends to see you through your darkest trials." sagely said the goddess of justice.
Ryuu took her words in and stewed in them for a moment, a small smile flashing across her lips as she thought of her familia and Kiddy Party. Astraea smiled as well as she saw the smile on her child's face. But before another word could get out, Asta entered the training yard. "Ryuu, your party is here. They're wondering if you have the day off for a day of relaxation in the city." said the dwarf tank. Ryuu looked a little surprised by Kiddy Party's sudden arrival, but smiled quickly all the same.
"Tell them I'll be changing from my training clothes and that I'll be right out."
"Akihide, can I have a moment of your time?" asked the familiar voice of his teacher, as he turned away from the conversation he was having between Ardee and Airmid about rambunctious gods and how to deal with their bullshit, which was a nice way that they tried to keep his mind off his blood stained hands. She seemed upset about something, Akihide noted, probably about what happened with Evilus when they were out on patrol.
Akihide sighed, turning to his teacher. "What can I do for you, Kaguya-sensei?" he asked.
"I... I just wanted to apologise about what happened..." said Kaguya, awkwardly. "I'm... not really sure how to put into words just how sorry I am. To force you into that situation... one you weren't ready for... it wasn't okay. I should've done more for you, as your teacher as well as your senpai in adventuring and fighting."
Akihide nodded, not trusting the worlds in his throat to come out. In all honesty, he wasn't too sure what to say to that either. How was he supposed to respond to someone apologising to him for leading him to where he would take his first kill? He had no clue, so he simply nodded and tried to ignore it. That seemed to be doing his mental health the best, trying to ignore the issue for now until he had what it took to come to terms with the horrifying reality that he killed someone.
Kaguya placed her hand upon his head and rubbed it. "You're a strong kid, Akihide Okami. Stronger than anyone else your age." she said, somewhat more affectionately than Akihide was used to. He was used to her twisted personality of acting sophisticated and giving backhanded compliments one minute, before completely exploding and throwing sophistication out the window the next. So to hear her say something genuine was a little unnerving. "You make me so proud."
And with those final words, footsteps began to sound down the hall. The three turned to their last member, Ryu, dressed in a nice almost egg white shirt with yellow linings and a brown skirt with a yellow heart pattern running across the hemline. To complete the look, a little red ribbon tied around her collar, as insisted upon by the goddess Astraea. She seemed slightly embarrassed by the outfit, making it obvious that either Alise or Astraea forced her to wear it as opposed to what she was originally planning.
Ardee did not make the situation any better with a cat call whistle and a "Looking good Ryuu~", getting a groan from the elf of Ryumilua Forest, as well as a blush and a fidget of her step. "So I take it you're joining us today?"
"Sure..." muttered the elf, as she joined the group. "Where were we planning on going?" she asked.
Ardee smirked. "Well, my friend in my Familia told me about this new cafe that opened up, Cafe Wishe. Apparently, they sell a lot of elven baked goods, so I figured we'd go there and try some of the stuff that you had at home, Ryuu." she said with that smirk still on her face, obviously proud of her 'master plan' for the day.
Ryuu smiled at them. "Sure. I know the place, I went there already on my own. I'll lead the way." she said to her party, as she began to walk out, closely followed by Ardee and Airmid, only Akihide lagging slightly behind. The three girls didn't notice, since Akihide was keeping up with them, but still staying a bit behind them. He didn't feel strong enough, or maybe even worthy enough, to stand in their presence.
'You shouldn't walk next to them.' stated a voice in his head, it's tone somehow both amused and angry. 'You killed someone. The blood on your hands will drip all over them if you get too close, you murderer. All that talk about saving lives, but how many did you end that day? I certainly lost count, with all that swinging around and blood, I guess they all merge together in your memories.'
Akihide turned his head down to the pavement and stopped, his hands coming into view, drenched and dripping red, gripping onto Utsukushī-me in his left hand and Megami no Hana in his right, dripping the same red liquid. His eyes widened as his clothes began getting soaked in red.
'Oh Akihide, Akihide, Akihide~' sang the now more amused than angry voice in his head. 'What will you do, when you realise that this blood will never wash away. No matter how much good you do, how many lives you save, your hands will always be drenched in the blood of those you killed.' it chastised him. Akihide's breath began to pick up into small and sharp breaths, his pupils unfocused as they looked upon the blood of his hands, as his mind sped into overdrive at the emotions it was taking on due to the traumatising situation it found itself in.
A shake to his shoulder brought him back to the land of the living, and he looked up at the concerned faces of his party. Adree was shaking his shoulder, Ryuu and Airmid on either side of her, looking at Akihide with concern and distress. Akihide took the moment to calm down. "I... I'm okay... How far to Cafe Wishe?" he asked.
"Akihide..." muttered Ardee, before bringing him in for a hug. "It's okay to be sad about what happened. To feel regret about killing makes you a better person than the others." she said, trying to make him feel better. "We're he-"
"Hey... isn't that Loki's Fox?" asked a random citizen in the crowd.
"It is!" cried another, rushing over to him and grasping his hands in her own.. "You saved me and my daughter the other day! Thank you!"
Before Akihide could reply, another man with bulging muscles grabbed him from behind and hoisted him up. "My kids gout out of there unscathed thanks to you!" he yelled out, which began to drag more attention. "Everyone! This is the kid hero of the Loki Familia who sent those Evilus bastards straight to hell! He saved our lives and sent Evilus packing!" he yelled out, gathering applause and cheers of encouragement from the crowd.
"Evilus is done for with a hero here! Send them to hell, kid!"
"Get vengeance for the lives they took from us! Kill them to repay us for what they took!"
"They should all die! Take a few of them out, hero!"
"Hero of the Loki Familia, Loki's Fox! Thank you so much for taking care of Evilus!"
Cheers continued to come, drowning out the calls from Airmid, Ardee and Ryuu to try and reach the clearly unstable Akihide, who's eyes were wide as he looked at the cheering crowd. 'They wanted this~' sang the returning voice in his head. 'You gave them what they wanted, blood and revenge. Evilus took what they had and they wanted blood as a repayment, and you gave it to them. They're soaking in the blood you spilled, revelling in it, and you gave them the chance to do so~' it sang as Akihide's vision of the people was dipped in blood.
That was too much.
Activating Mico Grandus, Akihide teleported to the top of a building, and began running. Even as the confusion on the street grew with his sudden disappearance, he continued to flee, trying desperately to get away from the people, the cheering, the blood that he saw. He needed to get out of there.
And so he fled, tears in his eyes and his back to the world, the one that made him a murderer.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I have another omake, focusing this time on the past life of Akihide, more specifically his birth and early years. Enjoy.
The Tales of the Nine Tailed King: Prologue
Atop the mountain, at a shrine dedicated to the divine god Ubusunagami, a soon to be mother was laid upon the futon as she began her final trial of labour. Having spent the last 18 hours in labour, she was ready to finally get the child out of her, the father having died horribly in war a few month prior. So, as she laid there, clenching her fists in pain and attended to by three mikos, she tried to focus on having the baby out of her as quickly as possible.
Soon, after almost 19 excruciating hours of childbirth, she finally gave birth to the boy. Taking him in her exhausted arms, she looked down at the small amount of white hair, that followed the ears and the tail of her family as a Renard, and smiled. "Tamamo. Your name is Tamamo no Mae." she breathed as she looked upon her child.
Tamamo was quick to pick up on the ways of poetry and reading, and at the age of five, was brought before the emperor to recite poetry to him. The emperor cared for the boy, and offered to take him in as a servant. Tamamo was not eager to leave his mother behind, but she convinced him to stay when he tried to deny the emperor. Tamamo stayed, reciting poetry and learning to write his own from the scholars of the palace.
He stayed there for another 5 years, becoming a well educated boy who would engage in discussion on poetry and performed his own for the emperor, who enjoyed it immensely. However, his life changed for the worst after the emperor became sick. The health of the emperor deteriorated significantly, eventually reaching the point that he could not leave his bed due to a lack of strength. So, the wisest men in the kingdom called forth a doctor and a priest to look at the king.
However, unknown to everyone else, the priest had been paid off by a scholar who had lost to Tamamo no Mae in a poetry contest in front of the emperor, and had him declare the emperor was sick from a curse placed on him by an evil spirit. The priest did so, identifying Tamamo no Mae as the spirit and having the emperor send his entire legion after him to try and capture him. Tamamo managed to escape the palace, returning to him home only to see it being burnt to the ground, his mother tied to a post and burnt alive.
Tamamo had decided to flee the country, and headed west, before stealing a boat and making his way over to a new country, and where his destiny lead him, vowing to never return to the home he once knew.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. But for now, Striker777, over and out.