Chapter 39

I would have been an idiot to stay in place and just let the beast run me over. I would have been monumentally stupid to just run at it, with only the Shield as my weapon.

But this is why we had plans. Multi layered, multi path plans that eventually got to the final two options. We killed it, or we ran away to try again later. Usa's second lightning bolt not killing it? That was expected. Even now, after seeing his second attack fail and the downpour overhead dispersing, Usa should be recovering and waiting for the next signal.

Clive, when I glanced back to his last known position, was gone. Good. Tetsu and her two riders? Gone from sight, not from hearing, but even that was muffled.

So, I continued my run towards it, trusting that Kunshu was about to drop the next thing from her bandoleer of tricks.

(Battle resumes)

The corrupted ground under Kodori's boots crunched like wet bone as she yelled a battle cry, the wide tower shield in front of her. Behind it, she took a clay pot from her belt, waiting for the right condition to use it.

Above her, Kunshu was already in the motions of throwing another pot with a clearly marked lid. This one however, she tossed between the Hero and the Dragon, and when it hit the ground, a thick black smoke erupted from inside. The sudden rain storm was over, and the smoke, a mix that used a tiny bit of magic to help with its dispersal almost seemed like a wall of darkness between the two on the ground.

The Tyrant remembered the smoke... It wasn't a stink bomb, like it had been before, but again, it was savage, not stupid. But its great size and momentum prevented it from stopping. Almost losing its balance trying to stop, it stumbled into the cloud. Roaring in irritation, or anger, it felt something bounce off one of its teeth, then a dry feeling over its tongue, then suddenly, its mouth was filled with a volcano of black smoke!

Unable to see, hearing the dreaded sound of shattering pottery again, it thrashed around, trying to shed the imagined black powder off itself.

Then something about the size of a truck, drop kicked it.

Already stumbling, thrashing around, and suddenly slammed in the side, the Tyrant fell to the jagged barren ground with a howl of frustration and rage.

Before it could even skid to a halt, its momentum carrying it out of the tar black smoke, Melty, a safe(er?) distance away, finished casting. Blue magic circles lit up with purpose, and the rain slick ground sprouted long jagged teeth of ice. Springing upwards with the sounds of shattering glass, pillars of ice and rime buffeted the Tyrant Rex from all sides. The ice appeared with such sudden violence, that even some of the black smoke was trapped within, a bizarre maze of black and white mirrors.

Tetsu landed on the side opposite Melty, roaring her smaller (yet still mighty) howl of victory at knocking over her perceived rival. But from Tetsu's back, having detached from her before she kicked the Tyrant, Raphtalia reached the apex of her jump, took the Atma weapon from her belt, and focused on that spot just under the hinge of the massive dragon's huge jaw.

(Kodori)

I watched Raphtalia fall like a comet into atmosphere. Small and dark at first, her sword ignited with her will, and she was almost hard to look at when her blade connected with the Tyrant's throat.

"YA!" Almost as loud as the thunder from Usa's lightning, the (current) Big Sister of the party hit the ground next to the Tyrant's throat with enough force to crack the ice around her like a bullet hitting a mirror.

The beast howled. Raphtalia was almost too slow to jump towards me and away from the Tyrant as it started to thrash in pain. Using its stubby little arms, frantic kicks from its hind legs and powerful thrashings of its tail, it got itself upright and roared at Raphtalia's retreating back.

But it was bleeding, badly. It's roar bubbled with blood, its throat hissed with escaping air. It was too shallow to kill it...

Raphtalia slid behind me as I slammed the Shield of Marius into the ground and yelled at the beast, "If it bleeds, we can kill it! And when we kill you, I will purify this place, and make it look as if you had never been! COME ON! HIT ME!"

(Zooming out a little again)

Blood dribbled out from under the Tyrant's chin obscenely, but the beast was too stupid or angry to care. From deep within its obsidian scaled body, a reddish blue glow formed, expanded its chest, then with a motion similar to a striking snake, the Tyrant's head darted forward as it exhaled a long column of viscous fire at Kodori, and more importantly, the one who hurt it.

Halfway between the massive beast and its target, a pair of ghostly shields appeared. Formed into a wedge, the Air Strike Shield and Second Shield split the initial blast of fire and bile as they rocketed towards the two behind the Shield.

It wasn't enough. They lasted a half second at most, but the worst had been diverted. A moment later, a shimmering dome of light surrounded Kodori and Raphtalia, further diverting the super heated vomit.

Then, with a 'THWUMP' sound, audible even over the roar of the beast and the crackle of ground and air simmering with extreme heat, a second arrow joined the first inside the wounded eye of the Tyrant. Clive had guessed wrong, but that hadn't made him any less accurate.

Flinching, the flamethrower maw of the Tyrant flailed crazily for a moment before cutting off. It's stubby arm couldn't reach the new shard of pain in its head. But the instant the flame stopped spewing from its mouth, Tetsu, wings outstretched, hind claws out, front claws reaching forward, hit the much bigger dragon a second time. This time however, she wasn't just trying to push it over. No, this time, she was out for blood of her own.

(Kodori)

"YEAH! TAKE THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS!" Tetsu howled, her powerful hind legs gripping and pinching the other dragon's scales and bone ridges, while her smaller, weaker, but weaponized front claws carved and slashed at the Tyrant's side and back. "NOM NOM NOM!"

She was so effective, I almost stopped moving when the front of my shield started to 'ping' with bits of obsidian scale fragments. But I could geek out on weapons later. "Raphtalia? Does the blade still work?"

The fire hadn't touched us. But the heat was effecting her. After a couple of coughs, then a hasty gulp of a healing potion to mend what was probably a very raw throat, she nodded, "Yes. I'm sorry I-"

"This is why we plan. Be ready." I said, letting my tail bap her since my hands were busy, "Unless she's forgotten, we have a few seconds."

I let the Air Wake enchantment turn on again, and ran forward. We all knew Tetsu was strong, and if the Atma weapon could hurt the beast, her claws could too. But we wanted to get through this without getting hurt.

Unfortunately, as Tetsu tried to push herself off the monster's back, it managed to curl just the right way, and slam her aside with its tail. Having been on the other end of a dragon's tail before, I could still only guess at how strong it was when Tetsu sailed over my head, crying in distress as she flailed her arms and legs.

But the Tyrant was bleeding. Not just from the throat, though that seemed have slowed significantly, cauterized by its own breath. Its back and shoulder was covered in shredded scale and bile-black blood. Soft spots!

"I am the source of all power. Hear my words and obey. A spark, a glow, a flame! First light!" I chanted as I got within striking distance of the monster, "COME GET ME!" I yelled at it.

(Zooming out...)

Kunshu spotted a signal light just... appear on the dragon's back. A little one, so faint, so delicate. But she was out of iron dust pots. Still, the will of the Queen was absolute, and a signal to attack was given.

She dived, spear braced, wings blurring as she added speed to the point where her wings started to become counter productive. But as her spear punctured the ghostly light, and sunk into the dragon's back, she understood the true meaning of the order. With a thought, her own swarm, the silent family she'd been gifted by the Queen, detached from her head and shoulders, and zipped away from her into all the other bloody spots she could see with her near 360 view. Then, just as fast as she arrived, the dragon under her spear hardly even starting its roar of pain at the new shaft of metal and slivers of iron sunk into its flesh, she was in the air again.

Down at ground level, Kodori braced the Shield of Marius into the ground again, the two pointed studs hitting the befouled ground like a guillotine blade as she braced against a swipe of the Tyrant's massive head. Even with a steep angle of deflection, she was nearly thrown off her feet. "SIGNAL! CASTERS!" She yelled as she heaved the Shield around, taking another slam from the massive head, then wedging the tower shield into its mouth as it tried to bite her. "ORDER!"

Clive, Melty, and Raphtalia all had their Slave Mark glow for a fraction of a second. It was rare, not having happened since the very first days when Kodori was trying to forge them into a true fighting team, that she evoked the 'absolute' command. So, even through Kodori was in the line of fire, they acted.

Clive, from his little pit a good distance away, touched his knuckle to the crystal amalgam in his bow's grip, and sent a glowing arrow over the Dragon Rex's head. Off on the cliff they had started at, Usa began his third casting.

Melty flinched a little at the unfamiliar pain over her heart, but a moment later, she too started to cast. The ground was still thick with ice, even though it wasn't hindering the Tyrant at all. But it was still 'real' still 'water', and thus it was worked into her spell as well.

Tetsu had limped her way upright, and at Raphtalia's signal walked off her bruises and let her hop onto her back.

(Kodori)

I hated having to do it, and seeing the little signal in my status screen that told me my 'slaves' were being 'disciplined', made me grimace. But as the massive Dragon scooped me into its mouth, well, I didn't have time to argue, or explain.

I had to trust them. And even as the brimstone stench of the dragon's mouth washed over me, I smiled. Because I did trust them. This was not part of any of our plans. But I knew they would figure out the next steps on their own.

Which was good. Because the invincible nature of the Shield meant there were only two ways out of this things mouth, and I couldn't give them orders. And I didn't actually want out of its mouth yet. "You're not-" I cut my hand on a tooth as I braced myself, "-spitting me out that easy!" I grinned just a little wider, "GROW!"

I didn't need to say the word, not for this. But as the world outside the bar-like teeth spun crazily, as the Tyrant slung its head back and forth, side to side, trying to dislodge(or swallow) me, I thought of my wife's smile as I evoked one of the powers of the Shield of Marius.

The Shield could not be broken. My body behind it would take damage, while its surface mitigated what it could. But this also meant that overloading the enchantments I'd woven into the original, now copied, Shield of Marius, wouldn't break it like it would, and had, on my other projects.

Inside, and outside, the sound of cracking crystals reverberated in my ears. Outside, I hoped that was Melty renewing her ice and water spells. But inside, the 'thread crystal' I'd melted into the front, to trade MP for temporary defensive stats, grew, grew more, and basically became solid rock inside the Dragon's mouth. "I'm not trapped in here." I braced, waiting for the 'signal' from outside, "YOU are trapped out there!"

Then I felt all the hair stand up on my tail, and I changed the Shield.

(last time, honest)

Melty fell to her knees, her palms cutting themselves on the chips of ice that had formed all the way from her, to about hip high on the Dragon as it tried to dislodge Kodori from its mouth. Thrown in, 'layered' into the spell, was a wave of water. Not as powerful as the 'squall' spell Kodori and her had cast at the start, but if Usa got the signal... She ignored her bleeding hands, and started to stumble away from the damp ground as fast as she could.

Just outside the 'instant ice field', Raphtalia was feeding Tetsu a healing potion. The raccoon girl was really just holding out her hand and pouring it into the dragon's mouth, while keeping an eye on the cliffs behind them, watching the yellow glow of Usa's magic circles. "Close your eyes!" She said as the glow faded from the cliffs.

Clive, still in his little pit, got an arrow ready, but ducked under his cloak, knowing that his mostly lidless eyes would not like the bright flash that was about to happen. He would need to line up his next shot quickly, if this didn't work.

From above the thrashing, undulating, absolutely furious Tyrant Dragon Rex, a yellow magic circle blazed into existence. Half frozen in place, too busy with the giant nugget of magic crystal it just couldn't dislodge, the beast couldn't do anything about what was about to happen.

Then, with a sudden SNAP, its mouth closed, its occupant vanishing save for a couple bits of ragged black fur sticking out from between its clamped teeth.

But before it could even think to swallow, a pillar of lightning punched it to the ground like a titan's fist. The spear, and all the bits of metal in its back, directly in its flesh, channelled the electricity straight into its nervous system, making the beast thrash and twitch, all its muscles seizing and trying to flex all at once.

Covered in ice, iron, blood and water, the beast flopped onto its side like a fish-out-of-water. Its one good eye, mostly pointed skyward, spotted something running towards it at the edge of its vision. Hardly able to to more than twitch for the moment, it caught an almost motion capture movie of its impending death.

Tetsu, once again with Raphtalia on her back, ran towards the Tyrant as fast as she could. The mass of her body and all four limbs being used to grip the icy ground, she had no issue with the ice. She wasn't going to leap this time anyhow. "I'M GONNA BITE YOU!" She roared, feeling Raphtalia jump off her back, as the smaller but still quite significant dragon slammed teeth first into the exposed chin of the Tyrant Rex.

Raphtalia saw the beasts head get levered backwards, its own mass holding the rest of its twitching body in place. Again, she descended, and at the last moment activated the Atma weapon at full power, the blade appearing a split second before connecting with the side of the Tyrant's throat.

(Kodori)

I was in a lot of pain. I was bleeding in a bunch of places, mostly my right arm and both legs. My skin was tingling with very unhappy electric tingles (as opposed to the happy ones my Wife and Amazon induced on occasion). My muscles were cramped. My stomach was upset with potion use. And the smell... Like brimstone and baby puke left in the sun for a week...

But, faintly, from the dim light at the end of the dragon's throat, I heard, "BOSS! Are you in there!?" Tetsu. "Hey hey! Help me... Hold this side!"

I felt the teeth under my butt shift, and with a groan, Raphtalia and Tetsu pried open the jaw of the massive dragon. "Hey guys." I waved, coughing, since opening my mouth invited the taste of what I was smelling in. "Urg... it's gross in here..." I extended a hand, and a big dragon hand grabbed it, followed by a smaller one latching onto my wrist and elbow to help me up and out.

"Wow... You need a bath." Tetsu said with her usual graceless honesty.

"I do." I agreed, the air just outside not much better. "And I need to thank Motoyasu." I said, moving the arm with the Shield on it. When I felt Usa's Spell, I changed it to the newest one in my Almanac, thanks to the Spear Hero. "Lightning Golem Shield. High lightning resistance." I said, "Clive!?" It was from an item he'd gotten by beating the guardian of the 'cursed seed'. For him, it gave him the Lightning Spear. For me? A Lightning Shield.

I looked around, my eyes passing over the area once, then spotting him as I went back, "Grr!" He waved his bow.

"Signal clear!" I said, then looked up, "Kunshu?"

"Bzz thump." Was all the warning we got as she landed next to me. She didn't however get close for the usual headpat/antenna brushing. Didn't blame her.

"Do you have enough strength to get Usa down the cliff?" I asked.

She nodded, then zipped away again.

"Well." I sighed, wanting to just... skip the last part and go to bed for a week. "You all did amazing. But lets start cleaning up."

About twenty minutes later, Ake and his knights, 'the mob' of able bodied demi-humans that lived on Van's land, and no small number of the former slave population of the Ringmaster's tent started to filter into the scene.

We were quite a sight I was sure. Melty and I had done our best to wash the worst of the 'giant dragon gunk' off, but aside from Usa and Clive, we had all been in the splash zone so to speak. And now that we had started to really strip the Tyrant Rex down for 'parts'...

But, smell or not, we had no shortage of volunteers to help.

"And... There." Tetsu said and she held open the Tyrant's ribs, a faintly smoking glowing purple crystal rolling out onto the trampled and corrupted ground. "I don't wanna touch it... nope nope nope!" She held the massive ribs aside JUST long enough for it to clear, then hopped away, holding her tail to make sure it didn't touch the Tyrant Dragon Core. "Phew..."

"What will you do with it, I wonder?" I felt my horns itch at the sound of that old woman's voice.

I turned to face her, and replied with a question of my own. "Believe me now, Granny?" I couldn't quite push 'old hag' out through my lips, and instead used the less formal, less respectful (unless you were speaking to your actual grandparent) word.

Again, she had that look of regret on her face. Good. Let their eyes and bellies fill with bile at the sight of me. My deeds will prove them wrong.

"And to answer. I'm going to make another tree." I turned away from her, my eyes scanning the people milling about, carrying teeth, hauling squares of stripped dragon hide, dragging actual scales into a pile... "Lord Van!"

Despite his soft appearance, he was getting his hands dirty like the rest of them, his poor robe stained with dragon blood... or something. He turned towards me, "Sir Kodori?" He handed his burden (a tooth someone could use for a sword) to someone, and came over.

"Once we're done here, I have one more thing to do before we burn what's left. And when we leave, I'm going to need you to build something for me." I thought for a moment, "Then maybe have you send a messenger or something to Mirso..."

"Of course! What did you have in mind?"

It took about ten minutes, but I told him. Then another five to explain what I wanted built.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I think... with this many people around, I'll have an easier time. And if it works? Well, it will only help me. Besides, no one is using the land, and something like this?" I smiled, feeling my cheeks resist the motion as they pulled away from my teeth. "Needs a monument."

As I went through the motions of a ritual purification in the nearby lake, with Kunshu standing by as my 'miko', I decided I'd have to thank Melty for suggesting we start the fight in the morning. The cleanup was all but done. Everything we could use from the Tyrant's body was either in the Shield or in neat piles for Van and his people to cart off for... I dunno... commemorative coins or something? There were literal tons of dragon bits that could be used for something. Even food... for animals at least... I doubted any amount of cooking would make it palatable for anything with proper taste buds. I wonder what that said about Tetsu though...

But yes. Everyone else had already had their bath in the lake. Everything we weren't going to use for later from the Tyrant was in a pile covered in straw for burning. And now, as we got to nightfall, I was making myself ready for what I planned to do. Unlike the last time I purged a dragon core, I was going to actually try and follow the proper steps.

More or less...

Kunshu was already waiting for me to stand, covering me from any potential eyes with this worlds best version of a fluffy towel. My poor Empress Bee was missing all but a couple of her 'swarm', the rest of them having melted in the blast of Usa's lightning. I could have done this myself, but having a second was... important.

If I weren't hiding my true self, it would have been Raphtalia. Or maybe not... She might have asked questions. And those were distracting...

And so, behind the towel, I put on my black house robe, let it form fit itself to my body, and started to walked slowly back to the spot we'd chosen for the tree.

Slowly, I walked towards the glowing purple almost person sized 'dragon core'. Behind it, a safe distance away, was a bonfire of wood and unusable dragon bits. It was meant to draw the attention of the Gods, to show them that something of significance was about to happen. A sacrifice of material, of effort, a child to a parent declaring 'look at me!'

Around the front, hundreds of Demi-humans stood. Eight columns, eight people across. Like all of the steps in the Eastern Celestial of Earth, 'Prosperity Prosperity'.

I walked between the forth and fifth column of people, and coming in from left and right were the rest of my party. Raphtalia held a freshly modified Seed from the Lerno incident, while Melty, Usa Clive and Tetsu (with her impossible mop of red hair actually brushed!) held a handful of normal seeds. Aside from Tetsu, who was practically vibrating with contained enthusiasm, my party was quiet and calm.

I knelt in front of the crystal, not letting the smoky radiance of the hostile energy inside pull my attention away.

And I punched the ground in front of me. It took several tries, bloodied my knuckles, and I might have fractured a finger, but the corrupted ground gave way to my effort, and a small pit lay ready to accept the collected seeds. First, Raphtalia placed the palm sized seed into the little pit, then one by one the others heaped their handful on top. Lastly, from behind me, Kunshu placed a clean handful of soil on top (that had to be 'imported' from the top of the cliffs). That done, they all stepped back and stood behind me.

Now the hard part. I had the means to convert the cursed ground and energy of the Tyrant Soul towards growth, but for that to happen, I had to tame it. I had to be the conduit.

I touched the stone, palms flat to the rough smouldering surface, and closed my eyes.

With a jarring impact I fell face first into a shallow pool of... blood?

Quickly, I slapped my palms to the floor and pushed my face out of the oily liquid and sloshed my knees under me, crouched and ready to act. But... where was I?

Dark, and so wide and open that even I couldn't see the walls, I seemed to be standing in an ankle deep pool of... well, it smelled like blood. The only source of light however, seemed to be... Me?

Yes, my very presence was lighting up this endless seeming room of blood.

"Amusing." A voice said from everywhere and nowhere. Vibrating through the air, over my skin and through my fur. "The small fox intends on beating me twice in the same day..."

From all around, the black/red liquid around me rippled. Under my feet, I could feel the vibration of something moving, something big...

And with the suddenness of a striking serpent, a massive reptilian head on a neck that was long enough that I couldn't see the shoulders, darted forwards. It opened its massive jaws at the last instant, but flattened myself to the ground and rolled out from under the scaly underside of its jaw. Again, I sloshed my feet under me, ready to move.

"Not timid at all, but you are still weak. Where is your Shield, Hero? Your power? Looking at you now, here, I feel shamed that I was beaten at all!"

That was actually... a good question. The Shield, irritating as it was, was not resting on my back where it usually was when I needed to do something important. Like... Anything... All it did for me was get in the way of things, and unless I was protecting someone else, literally with my body...

I also realized something else. The constant 'filter' of the status screen was gone.

A tail who's tip was longer than Tetsu's entire body lashed out from behind me, but I jumped into the air tapping my palm to the flat bladed spade of bone and flipping backwards as it created a tidal wave in the pool under me.

When I landed, on my feet this time, I felt the extra 'gravity' of my real body.

"There are no illusions here, pup." The voice chuckled, "What you fought out there, was just a shadow of my true power! Corrupted by time, by magic, by an age sealed away under stone!"

More attacks. A clawed hand the size of a house WHOOSHED out of the darkness, its claws splayed wide enough for me to jump between. The Tail tried next, this time spearing out of the murk in an attempt to impale me. I ran towards it for two steps, then slid under it, tapping my palm to its slick surface to help keep my balance. I then had to lunge out from under a massive clawed hand as it tried to flatten me to the stone under the blood pool.

"You dared to touch my soul, and I see into yours! You are a creature of denial!" It roared, "You hold one of the greatest weapons of this world, yet you deny it so completely it's not even here!"

Again, I dodged a flurry of oversized limbs. I was getting a mental picture of this thing's shape and size, but that was only giving me a tiny bit more space, a fraction of a second more time to react.

But it was learning too, but just as my feet touched the surface of the pool, a massive palm descended on me.

(Outside)

The people gathered there had been given only two instructions for the gathering. Stay where you were standing. And hope for success. That was all. It had been emphasized this was about attitude. Hope and well wishes were the most important thing here.

But when Kodori started to shake, to curl forward, to growl like an animal, people started to worry. But, Kodori was their saviour. Their Hero. And that is when the Hope and Well Wishes, started to become Prayer.

(Kodori)

Pain. Muscles bunching, bones creaking, breath blasted from my lungs, spots dancing my my vision...

But I was still alive. My palms were flat against the massive palm of the dragon. My feet were planted firm on the ground under the bloody swamp. My body still obeyed me, and my muscles still fought against the incredible weight pressing down on me.

"You were a fool to pit your will against a Dragon. You poor fractured thing." It said with contempt, "Hmm, I see what you were trying to do. Yes... But I think I will use your body instead. Fitting that the poor fractured thing you are repays my body's death with her own."

I tried to push, to move the massive immovable object above my head. It was like fighting against a mountain, stopping the world from falling in on me... But if this was a place of soul...

"Ah, power. That won't help you! You think to pit that scrap of power you fill yourself with against me? HA!" I groaned as the little breath I had in me was compressed out of my lungs. "You hope to pit rage against me with such a reluctant resolve? I suppose if I let you, your body would be just like the one I left. Angry, destructive... just smaller." It laughed again.

He was right... If I pulled more from my cursed nature, I might win, or not, but either way I would be charging down the path of destruction, domination. But I couldn't let him win! I still had work to do! I had to accept...

Slowly, glacially, I started to stand. For a half second, it felt like I might be able to push the eclipsing hand off me. But the weight suddenly increased again. I held, but would go no further as I was.

"There..." I started, breathing as fast as I could, letting out a word with every breath. "Are. Two. Wolves. In. Every. Soul." I dug deeper, "One. Is. Good. The other... Is. Evil."

The weight increased again, and I started to compress again, but slowly, millimetre by millimetre. "Ah, but what is good? What is evil? In the end, there is only power. That is the only thing that matters. It decides everything. If you are strong enough, good and evil become, 'my way, or your way'."

"But..." I dug further. Under my flesh, under the curse of my Youkai nature, past the magic of my body, under the glimmer of Hestia's loving, thread thin hold on my soul. "I. Only... have... ONE!"

(Outside)

Kodori strained against the purple crystal. Lighter than it looked, a child of ten could have at least rolled it along the ground. But it looked as if she was trying to push a mountain uphill. Bleeding palms pressed flat against the smoking purple surface, her growls turned into a scream.

The gathered people were shocked, but more and more of them had started to pray for the Hero. This was the nature of the Shield. They stood in front, while the people behind supported them.

(Kodori)

With a suddenness that made my entire body feel like a snapped elastic, the weight of the dragon's palm was thrown off me. Like the silent predator he was, no noise heralded his arrival. Only when the dragon realized what had happened, and started to howl in pain, did my saviour start growling.

But an instant later, before the titanic body of the dragon tyrant's soul finished its fall to the stone of the floor, I put my hand on a giant silver furred leg.

"I only have one wolf. He's not really a wolf. But he's a good boy." I looked up, my eyes meeting one golden eye like my own, "Aren't you Fen-chan?"

He didn't reply, his muzzle pulled back in a snarl of chainsaw teeth of silver and jade. But, his tail flailed happily.

"What... What is this? There is no power greater than the dragons in this world!"

"But I'm not from this world." I said, giving the fluffy leg next to me one last pat before stepping to the side, my hands coming up to start sealing the Tyrant, "And it's your fault there IS a greater power. Fen-chan?"

Even if he was the same size as the Legendary Wolf I'd decapitated, he replied with a quiet "wurf."

"Try not to swallow too much of it."

(Outside)

Kodori's scream had started small, growing from a growl, to a snarl, to a scream, to a full on howl. Like her voice, the reason changed as the sound progressed. Effort, strain, pain, victory!

Behind her, the people watched as the vile purple glow seemed to be wrestled from the stone. People felt, as the corruption the Tyrant's presence had left in the ground was pulled almost like a carpet from under their feet. The air started to taste electric, and with the final howl, the scent of an entire forest sprung up from the ground in front of the Shield Hero.

The trunk of the tree swallowed the crystal whole, as well as Kodori's arms to the elbows. But the glow, that purple sinister glow of corruption, took the shape of a dragon. Huge and sinister, it hardly had time to form before another shape appeared.

Silver, edged with gold, with eyes teeth and claws of flaming purple, an equally massive fox chased the dragon up the tree as it formed. Branches spread, flowered budded, leaves opened, and with a sparkly burst, the fox formed monster banished the dragon shaped fog from the world.

Eventually, all eyes returned to the fox eared hero kneeling at the base of the tree.

(Kodori)

It was done.

As before, it felt like I'd run a marathon after staying awake for a week. Everything hurt. The feeling of fabric over my skin felt either distant, or sudden. My eyes felt like I'd been crying. My throat felt like I just drank a cup of sand.

Slowly, as my mind re-inhabited my body, I pulled my arms out of the tree, my palms feeling burnt and crusted with dried blood. Once done, I worked up the energy to stand.

I'd finally done it. Admitted, accepted, taken in and used that one part of me I never wanted to touch. I could have, maybe, drawn in more of the cursed power my Demon side gave me. Eaten the dragon tyrant's curse, and overpowered it. Maybe.

But, no. I still had work to do, and I was already thinking of the low path first when a new problem arose. If I had any hope of returning home, I had to stay myself. If what was left of me returned home a raving beast, insane and feral... Then I wouldn't be returning at all.

But for that, I had to accept myself, use all the tools I had properly.

I looked down at my hands, realizing two more things before a third flopped itself over my bloody hands. My disguise had fallen, and I was how I should be. Not only that, my newest tail, a mirror to the black/silver stripe/gold paintbrush of the other, flopped over my palms.

I sighed, gave up on hiding it any longer, and turned around.

"My name, is Kodori Haruhime." I said, "Kitsune of Earth, Queen of Orario, and Hero of the Shield."

The silence was near total, until Raphtalia fainted, Clive just barely able to catch her.

NOTES!

Fox cult fox cult fox cult...

You know who you are. :)

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!